Fair-skinned young American women are still flocking to tanning beds to achieve the bronzed look, despite the risk, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday.

Despite being a great way to get skin cancer, tanning beds are attracting nearly 30 per cent of fair-skinned high school girls in the US at least once a year. Additionally, nearly 17 per cent of teen girls said they went at least 10 times in a year, while nearly 25 per cent of white women under the age 35 tanned indoors at least once a year.

Brazil and New South Wales in Australia have banned the use of tanning beds, and the U.K., Germany, Scotland and France have banned indoor tanning for people under the age of 18.

A review of worldwide data -- 19 international studies -- by the Working Group of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (a branch of the World Health Organization) found that across all age groups, men and women who have ever used tanning beds have a 15 per cent higher risk of developing melanoma. What's more, people who use tanning beds before age 35 are up to 75 per cent more likely to develop melanoma.

Researchers at the CDC published the findings in a research letter online Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The statistics were gathered as part of the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the 2010 National Health Interview Survey, and the data was based on surveys administered to 2,527 subjects. Access: archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1729532

To learn more about the risks of indoor tanning, as well as the truth behind beliefs such as "A base tan will protect me from the cancer," check out the CDC's site: cdc.gov/cancer/skin/basic_info/indoor_tanning.htm