They found five very interesting and alarming discoveries.
First of all, the salons said that indoor tanning does not pose a threat and
that the link between indoor tanning and skin cancer is a “myth” and “rumor”. Over
half of them denied that indoor tanning would increase the risk of skin cancer.
Second, 4/5 salons said that indoor tanning is beneficial for one’s health.
They claimed various health benefits such as weight loss, preventing
osteoporosis, boosting the immune system, and even treating depression! Third,
the salons said that the rising rates of skin cancer are linked to increased
use of sunscreen (which makes absolutely no sense to me). They also got a quote
saying, “it’s got to be safe, or else they (government) wouldn’t let us do it”.
Forth, the tanning salons did not follow FDA recommendations. The FDA suggests
that indoor tanning should be limited to 3 times a week but ¾ of the salons
said first time customers are allowed to tan daily, sometimes without 24-hour
intervals. Lastly, the tanning salons specifically target teenage girls through
their advertisements. They give student discounts, and have specials for prom,
homecoming and back to school events. During these special they allow frequent
tanning for these young girls.
I found this to be completely absurd. Sometimes teenage
girls can be very gullible and believe all of this, which is very sad. The
tanning salons need to know the risks of indoor tanning and they should make
their customers aware of it. Also, they shouldn’t say its safe just because the
government allows it. The government also allows smoking and that is obviously
linked to lung cancer. It also allows alcohol, which can have numerous
detrimental effects on individuals. Also, they shouldn’t be saying that the
link between indoor tanning and cancer is just a myth or rumor because it’s
not. It is a very serious subject and they should know that.
After reading that article, I did some research on the link
between tanning booths and skin cancer. I found a study by Mingfeng Zhang
titled, Use of Tanning Beds and Incidence
of Skin Cancer. They researched into the correlation between tanning bed
use during high school/college and ages 25-35 and cancer (basal cell carcinoma,
squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma). The participants were US non-Hispanic whites. They were asked
questions about how often they used tanning beds, childhood tendency to burn,
mole count on their legs, number of severe sunburns, family history of
melanoma, and natural hair color. They found that people who used tanning beds
more often during high school/college had more moles and severe sunburns. They
found that tanning bed use during high school/college has a strong link with
basal cell carcinoma.
This chart shows the link between tanning bed use and the
risk of the 3 different kinds of skin cancer. There is a higher risk for all 3
types of skin cancer for people who used tanning beds during high
school/college compared to usage at age 25-35. Also, the table shows that the
risk for basal cell carcinoma is the highest followed by squamous cell
carcinoma and then melanoma. However, the article does not explain why the risk
for basal cell carcinoma is greater than the others. I think it would be interesting to look into why this is and why the risk for melanoma was the least.
"Skin Cancer Foundation." Congressional
Report Exposes Tanning Industry's Misleading Messaging to Teens. Skin
Cancer Foundation, 1 Feb. 2012. Web. 03 May 2012.
<http://www.skincancer.org/news/tanning/tanningreport>.
Zhang, Mingfeng, Abrar Qureshi, Alan Geller, Lindsay Frazier, David Hunter, and Jiali Han. "Use of Tanning Beds and Incidence of Skin Cancer." Journal of Clinical Oncology. American Society of Clinical Oncology, 27 Feb. 2012. Web. 3 May 2012. <http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/early/2012/02/27/JCO.2011.39.3652.full.pdf>.
http://scm-l3.technorati.com/11/10/10/53235/tanning.jpg?t=20111010100639
