Sunbeds, Cancer and Obamacare

A known health risk has been elevated to a top cancer risk:

The International Agency for Research on Cancer announced Wednesday that it had elevated sunbeds, used by tens of millions of people for tanning, to its highest cancer risk category.

Classified in 1992 and a "probable" cancer agent, research since then has left no doubt that soaking up UV rays at tanning salons significantly enhances the chances of developing the disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) agency found.

"The use of sunbeds is carcinogenic to humans. It causes melanoma of the skin, and melanoma of the eye," said Vincent Cogliano, an IARC researcher who led the new assessment.

"I cannot see any reason why a healthy person should use them," he told AFP by phone.

The risk of melanoma -- the most lethal form of skin cancer -- increases by 75 percent when use of tanning devices starts before the age of 30, according to the findings, published in the British medical journal The Lancet Oncology.

Nationalized health care advocates have been making a lot of noise about obesity and the impact on health costs. One report suggest that taxes on fatty foods will be necessary to slow down the fatties and pay for Obamacare. There's also the thought that obese persons will be denied certain kinds of health procedures because they brought their troubles on themselves with their eating habits.

So, what do you think will happen with a 45-year old shows up with a melanoma and admits to tanning bed use in her teens and 20's?

NO HEALTH CARE FOR YOU!