A dangerous obsession with achieving the perfect tan is causing a rapid increase in skin cancer among young women, the latest figures suggest.

Malignant melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, has overtaken cancers of the cervix and breast to become the most common cancer diagnosed in women under 30.

An estimated 340 women in their twenties now have melanoma diagnosed in Britain every year — nearly double the number to have breast cancer diagnosed at a similar age, according to Cancer Research UK.

A love of sunbeds and “binge tanning” on holiday are the root causes of the disease, which kills 50 women under the age of 40 each year.

Of all types of cancer, malignant melanoma is increasing at the fastest rate across all ages. Experts described the figures as shocking, adding that the desire to acquire a year-round “healthy glow” could be anything but healthy.

Diagnoses of the disease overtook those of cervical cancer among women aged 20-29 in 2004, but Cancer Research waited to check the numbers for 2005 to confirm the pattern. That year there were 338 cases of malignant melanoma compared with 298 cases of cervical cancer — in contrast to 2003, when there were 220 and 270 cases respectively. “We can now see there definitely is a trend for malignant melanoma overtaking cervical cancer for women in their twenties,” a spokesman for the charity said.

For women in their thirties, melanoma has also become the third most common cancer after those of the breast and cervix. Across all age groups, the disease causes 1,800 deaths a year — twice the number in Australia, where the dangers of excess exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays have been well publicised in public health campaigns for nearly 30 years.

The UK Government has spent more than £420 million on annual campaigns since 2003, but overall, skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Britain, with 100,000 new cases each year.

There are two main types: melanoma and non-melanoma. Melanoma makes up just 11 per cent of diagnosed cases of skin cancer but accounts for 80 per cent of deaths, and is more commonly diagnosed in women.

However, Cancer Research UK experts say that malignant melanoma will be the fourth most common cancer for men and women of all ages by 2024, when cases are predicted to have risen from about 9,000 each year to more than 15,500.

The disease is mainly identified by a fast-growing, irregular dark spot on previously normal skin or in an existing mole that changes in size, colour or texture. Most cases are preventable — as about 80 per cent are caused by exposure to sunlight or UV radiation.

Experts warned people of all ages to stay away from sunbeds and to use a high-factor sun lotion in the sun, to be careful not to get burnt and to take extra care of children.

Nina Goad, of the British Association of Dermatologists, said: “The fashion for tanned skin is prompting young women to put their health at risk in a bid to look bronzed.

“Sunbeds are not a safe alternative to sunbathing, and the fact that children can easily access them is a worry. That’s why we want to see a ban on coin-operated sunbeds and a ban on sunbeds for under-18s.” A survey of 4,000 people last year found that one in three women had used a sunbed at some point, with 80 per cent first using one when they were under 35.

Caroline Cerny, the manager of the Cancer Research UK SunSmart campaign, which starts today, added that UV rays in sunbeds could be more than ten times stronger than the effect of the midday sun.

Studies also suggested that women who use sunbeds under the age of 35 could increase their risk of developing melanoma by as much as 75 per cent.

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