Health officials in New York are ramping up regulation of more than 2,000 tanning salons and gyms as health advocates push for a law banning exposure to indoor ultraviolet rays by anyone under 18.

"We're not claiming that people get addicted to tanning the same way you do nicotine, but it clearly is a habit you develop as a teenager,'' said Peter Slocum, vice president for advocacy at the American Cancer Society in Albany. "That's when most people start frequenting the cancer chambers.''

The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer last year classified tanning as a definite human carcinogen, putting it in the same group as smoking.

The Cancer Society says a 2006 analysis concluded people who tanned indoors before age 30 raised their risk for melanoma by 75%.

Another study showed use of tanning beds rose from 1% of teens in 1998 to 27% of teens a decade later, the American Cancer Society says.

The Indoor Tanning Association, an industry group, says that analysis is flawed. Executive Director John Overstreet said it would be outrageous if a parent could permit a son or daughter to join the military or get married but not to tan indoors.

The National Conference of State Legislatures says 32 states regulate tanning by minors, and legislation to outlaw it has been introduced in about 20 states.

New York law currently bans commercial indoor tanning for children under 14 and requires written parental consent for those from age 14 to 18.