Scotland has the highest skin cancer rate in the United Kingdom due to widespread unsafe tanning practices, British medical experts said.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain said a YouGov survey of more than 1,000 Scots found one in five respondents had participated in binge, or excessive, tanning, while four in 10 said they had tried tanning with cooking oil, moisturizers or other substances not approved by medical experts, The Glasgow Herald reported Friday.

"This is a serious issue. I'm worried that people still think the warnings about the sun do not apply to them," said Laura Wilson of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. "In Scotland, we have higher rates of melanoma than in Australia.

"Scots tend to think they do not need to use sun creams at home but people must respect the sun at all times and make sure they use a recommended sun-protection cream."