Spring Break
Dying to look good
Tanning is not worth the dangers it poses to consumers' health.
By: christen beck
Issue date: 2/3/09 Section: Opinion
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Pale skin has been my curse since a young age. At the recommendation of a friend, I went shopping for a tan, and regretted the decision. Hearing it was a relaxing, calming experience, I foolishly decided to put my fair skin to the test.
"Would you like a low, medium or high pressure bed? We also offer a standup booth," a young woman at the front desk said. I raised an eyebrow, told her I was having a "Vanilla Sky" moment and ended up in a machine that resembled both a space ship and coffin. If you think indoor tanning is a relaxing experience, think about finding a hobby. Lying in a tanning bed, wearing nothing but your unmentionables and surrounded by intense, white light is about as close to alien abduction as you're going to get. Yet, according to a WebMD article, 28 million Americans visit tanning salons, spending $5 billion a year.
The Indoor Tanning Industry lobbies hard to keep salons legally available to minors. Akin, Gump, Strauss, and Hauer & Feld, who are a sort of "Thank you for tanning" party in Washington, D.C., have lobbied for tanning since 2001.
They continue to deceive people with misleading information about the effects of tanning. Their Web site spends most of its space promoting the positive effects of vitamin D. Regarding skin cancer risks, it said rates of skin cancer are likely a result of bad habits from the 60s, 70s and 80s when people sunburned skin on purpose so the burn would fade into a tan.
Legitimate scientific studies, however, have shown that skin damage is not necessarily a product of sunburns. Researcher and dermatologist Dr. Jody Levine clears up the misconception between the dangers of natural and artificial sunlight:
"It is very possible to damage your skin without a burn," Levine says. "It is the UVB radiation that is more likely to cause a sunburn, and UVA - used in most sun beds - causes deeper skin damage leading to skin cancer. And there are these new high-pressure UVA beds that give an amount of UVA far exceeding that of sunlight."
With shows like "Sunset Tan" on TV, it's not difficult to understand why students across Aggieland flock to tanning salons to catch that summer glow via a machine.
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