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No Tan is a Smart Tan!NEW YORK, NY, May 26, 2000 - Despite claims by the tanning industry that the equipment they use is safe, people who insist on regularly using sunlamps or frequenting indoor tanning salons in order to get that "perfect tan" are in danger. According to a report in Sun & Skin News, a quarterly newsletter of The Skin Cancer Foundation, indoor tanners risk developing damaged, wrinkled skin and possibly skin cancer. The International Smart Tan Network, an alliance of indoor tanning centers throughout North America, has been drumming up business by promoting its "Golden Rule of Smart Tanning: Don't Ever Sunburn." But, says the Foundation - there is no such thing as a "smart" tan. Indoor tanning may provide short-lived cosmetic benefits, but the skin's appearance and health is significantly worsened in the long run. UV exposure leads to wrinkled, leathery, discolored skin, and animal studies have shown that premature skin aging is caused by both UVB and UVA, especially in chronic, low-dose exposures such as those received by an indoor tanner. (Tanning machines today produce mainly UVA, but also UVB.) Animal research has also linked tanning devices to squamous call carcinoma, and recent epidemiological studies have associated UVA/UVB tanning with the development of the deadliest form of skin cancer, melanoma. The Skin Cancer Foundation would like to see the thousands of tanning salons in the United States shut down. In the meantime, with 28 million Americans using them each year, the tanning centers should, at the very least, be run more cautiously. James M. Spencer, MD, MS, director of dermatologic surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, and Rex A. Amonette, MD, professor of dermatology at the University of Tennessee in Memphis, have asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to enact stricter rules regulating the way these salons operate. Speaking on behalf of The Skin Cancer Foundation, they propose that tanning salons be required to:
Drs. Spencer and Amonette also recommend that a mandatory warning label be placed on the tanning equipment stating that tanning causes wrinkles, discoloration, and skin cancer. "If the devices must be available, alert consumers to their dangers so that they can make an informed choice, and make sure they're used as safely as possible," they say. Sun & Skin News, a quarterly publication of The Skin Cancer Foundation, focuses on issues concerning the prevention, detection, and treatment of cancers of the skin. The Foundation, the only national and international organization concerned solely with cancers of the skin, conducts public and medical education programs and provides support for research and professional training to reduce the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of skin cancers. |
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