Germany bans teens from tanning beds

BERLIN - The German parliament on Friday passed a law banning anyone under the age of 18 from going to solariums, or tanning salons, due to the risks of developing skin cancer, according to PhysOrg.com .

Germany's Association for Preventive Dermatology (ADP) says about 4 million youths 18 years old or younger -- some as young as 10 -- regularly go to solariums. ( download a PDF of the ADP's report )

"If people under 35 regularly use solariums, the risk of getting at some point in life malignant melanoma, the third deadliest cancer that there is, rises by 75 percent," the ADP's Professor Eckhard Breitbart said.

Germany is soon to become the first country to introduce universal skin-cancer screening, according to the Wall Street Journal . Everyone over 35 will have the right to a skin-cancer test every two years.

The ADP also has been running a commercial that shows what looks like a beautiful cellular structure, but in a dramatic twist it is revealed that it is part of fatal skin cancer.

In Germany, approximately 90,000 people develop some form of skin cancer every year, Breitbart said.