Melanoma On The Rise In The UK

London – According to a new report, melanoma is now the most common cancer in British women.

The Cancer Research United Kingdom, the country’s largest cancer organization, says that melanoma has overtaken cervical cancer as the top cancer in the country among women in their 20′s.

Researchers say the data is especially troubling since melanoma is usually a cancer that older people in their 70′s are at risk for.  Women in their 20s make up a small percentage of all patients diagnosed with melanoma in Britain, but nearly a third of all cases occur in people younger than 50.

By 2024, the organization predicts that melanoma will become the fourth largest cancer in men and women of all ages.

Experts say the striking increase is partially do to the rise in people use tanning salons.

“Spending time on sunbeds is just as dangerous as staying out too long in the sun,“ said Caroline Cerny of Cancer Research UK. The organization is starting a SunSmart campaign to warn Britons of the dangers of being too bronzed.

“The intensity of UV rays in some sunbeds can be more than 10 times stronger than the midday sun,“ Cerny said.

According to Cancer.org, about 8,420 people in the United States died of melanoma in 2008.