Before grabbing those miniature black goggles and sitting under the bed of blue lights, you may want to consider your chances of getting cancer. A study conducted by the British Association of Dermatologists was released in July noting that tanning beds have the ability to give its consumers melanoma. According to them, the risk of getting skin cancer jumps 75 percent higher in people who tan artificially before they’re 30.
As a result, the International Agency for Research on Cancer upgraded tanning beds from “probably cancerous” to “absolutely cancerous,” meaning the “fake-bake” machines fall into the same category as mustard gas and arsenic.
“While all of those agents are indeed very dangerous, the chance of exposure to mustard gas is practically nil and arsenic is in drinking water in some parts of the country whereas people are typically exposed to some kind of UV rays every day,” says Dr. Jac Nickoloff, the department head of environmental and radiological health sciences in an e-mail.
He may believe the unlikely comparison may be due to media hype, but he doesn’t ignore the risks of getting cancer.
“Everyone’s risk is different, and you can’t tell because of skin color,” he said. “There are huge individual varieties. Cancer is vastly complicated. All I can say is I have job security.”
Despite this threat looming over tanning salons, businesses are still making profit, and die-hard tanners are still seeking their UV fix.
“I will probably tan for the rest of my life,” says Gretchen Wilson, a sophomore history major and tanning enthusiast. “I like being tan, I like how it [emphasizes] my freckles.”
Wilson admits to tanning nearly every day for the past three years, and regardless, she isn’t worried about the cancer scare at all.
“I think everything will give you cancer this day in age … they just don’t know about it yet,” she says.
Tanning salons aren’t fretting over the hype either, but some are seeing concern in customers, even if the concern is coming from very few people.
“I’ve had less than five clients come in and say [they’re] worried and want to change from the UV therapy bed to the mystic sprays,” says Heather Ducic, the manager of Planet Beach at the corner of Harmony Road and Lemay Avenue. Even though she’s been managing for nearly five months now, she’s been a client at Planet Beach for two years and a tanner for five years. She admits to going into a tanning bed regularly, about three times every week.
There are tanners who prefer the natural approach. Microbiology sophomore, Krysta Atkinson says she tans pretty naturally anyway but admitted to tanning in a tanning bed only once and she’ll never do it again.
“Just the fact that you’re baking inside of a bed that shuts on you kind of bothers me,” she says. “Technically, it’s unnecessary. It’s just one aspect of all that women do to feel better about themselves, which isn’t bad but I think it’s gone a little far. [But] the golden-brown-look is really in.”
According to Alicia Ernst an esthetician at Trios Salon and Spa said she blames Hollywood for giving birth to the image of the golden-brown look. People need to get away from the Hollywood definition that tanning is healthy, she said.
“The tanner you get, the more your skin is crying for help,” Ernst says. Every time someone tans, whether the tanning occurs in the sun or on a tanning bed, the skin is defending itself by changing its pigment color, meaning the skin is going into panic mode.
Carol McEndaffer, owner of Laurels Salon of Distinction on Laurel Street, doesn’t believe the study is balanced. Instead, she has her own theory. McEndaffer believes corporations that produce tanning lotions are scaring everyone away from alternative tanning methods by claiming that it will give consumers skin cancer.
“I think that [the tanning lotion businesses] want to keep us scared,” McEndaffer says. “They scare people out of the sun and out of tanning. People now are vitamin D deficient and depressed because they don’t get enough sunlight.”
Two days after the media initially reported the study, which placed tanning beds in the same category as mustard gas and arsenic, the president of the International Tanning Association Dan Humiston took quick action. The ITA released an advertisement in the July 31 edition of the New York Post. The advertisement, an image of a folded newspaper with a block of text below a headline reading: “Indoor Tanning put in Same Category as Sunshine. Public Response: Duh.”
“Media reports comparing indoor tanning to toxins like mustard gas, cigarettes and arsenic are outrageously over-hyped,” stated the advertisement. “The same ‘Group 1’ category includes red wine, salted fish and regular sunlight.”
But according to the Offices of Dietary Supplements, vitamin D can be obtained through foods like a yolk of an egg, salmon or even cereal and orange juice. But Ducic doesn’t think that’s enough, saying any more people are too busy to eat healthy.
ITA was unavailable for further comment, and a copy of the advertisement can also be viewed online at the ITA’s Web site.
“Tanning is the same thing [as wearing make-up],” Wilson says. “It’s just the price of beauty.”
Tags: Volume 5 Issue 1
