Dublin woman earned 20,000 from banned tanning injections The Irish Times Don't risk using tanning products containing melanotan Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Your body already makes a hormone that tells your skin to tan. Melanotan 2 is a synthetic peptide engineered to mimic that hormone but in a version that's more potent and longer lasting than Viral 'Barbie drug' for tanning can cause brain swelling and even cancer, experts warn