They are probably not up there with the banks, but there is a big tanning lobby, and they spend a lot of money on it. Will the feds pass stricter regulations or does the tanning industry have political clout similar to the banking industry, for instance, enabling them to block tougher legislation? But to make it a bit more difficult is a great idea-at a minimum, to have parental approval required for minors, and to go after the tanning parlors that don’t ask for it. Whether it should be against the law gets into how much should be forbidden and how much should be left to people’s judgment after education. I would also recommend that people not smoke. I strongly recommend that people not use tanning booths, that it’s dangerous, that it encourages them not to use sunscreen. Should indoor tanning be illegal for minors? It may overwhelm the body’s ability to repair the damage. And the intensity of the UV is probably many times higher. So why is it a big deal in a tanning booth? One reason is there are areas of the body getting exposure in a tanning bed that are probably not getting it otherwise. They apply somewhere between a quarter and a half of what is recommended by the manufacturer. And nobody applies the proper amount of sunscreen.
Over the course of a year, we all get a lot of UV light, even in an area like Boston.
Is tanning like alcohol or sweets-safe if used in moderation? But doing things that consciously are intended to improve your appearance-I think that’s something generally viewed as feminine. I think it’s more socially acceptable for women to actively spend time on improving their appearance. Why do young women predominate as tanning customers? Gilchrest: In general, heavy usage certainly continues through college age, the 16-to-25 age group, very conscious of appearance, very much in the dating game. BU Today talked to her about the congressional report and its recommendations.īU Today: Is it your sense that college students, including BU’s, patronize tanning salons regularly? But indoor tanning is dangerous, she says, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), an advisory group to the government, issued a report in November debunking industry claims that tanning is good for you. “Everybody gets a fair amount of UV exposure, even if they think they are practicing safe sun,” says Gilchrest. Massachusetts and some other states require that minors have parental consent before tanning indoors, but one study found just 19 percent of Bay State salons checking, according to the House report. The Food and Drug Administration is pondering tighter regulations, as recommended by a 2010 advisory panel, a majority of whose members also supported age restrictions on tanning bed use. The federal government classifies tanning beds (along with Band-Aids and tongue depressors) among the least regulated of medical devices. Four out of five salons wrongly insisted that indoor tanning had health benefits, from increasing vitamin D to preventing cancer. More than half said tanning would not increase a fair-skinned teen’s cancer risk. Yet congressional investigators posing as teens in calls to salons found that 90 percent denied any health risk to fair-skinned teen girls. “Since 1980, the rate of melanoma in this group has increased by 50 percent.” “Melanoma is now the most common form of cancer for white women between the ages of 15 and 29 years old,” the report says.
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And skin cancer rates have shot up along with the popularity of tanning. UVA, a type of ultraviolet (UV) light, from sunlamps, “can be as much as 10 to 15 times more powerful than midday sun,” the report to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce warns. The risk of melanoma jumps 75 percent for people who begin indoor tanning before the age of 30, and among people who’ve tanned 10 times or more by that age, the risk of a melanoma diagnosis is six times higher than for those who’ve never tanned inside, according to the report. The title of a congressional report last month said it all: “False and Misleading Health Information Provided to Teens by the Indoor Tanning Industry.” With students already heading to tanning salons before next month’s spring break, Barbara Gilchrest, a School of Medicine professor of dermatology, is echoing the report’s warnings against bronzing on a tanning bed.