A survey of tanning salons revealed that 90% of the owners allowed teenage girls to tan more often than the three or fewer recommended sessions. Instead, 71% of the facilities said they would allow the teens to tan seven days a week.
But UV exposure from tanning beds has been linked to melanoma and squamous cell skin carcinoma, which prompted the International Agency for Research on Cancer to list sun beds and ultraviolet rays in the same high-risk group for causing cancer as plutonium and radium.
Researchers estimate that UV ray exposure before age 35 may increase a person’s risk of developing melanoma by as much as 75 percent. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 68,720 people will develop melanoma this year and 8,650 will die from the disease.
We don’t need one more artificial cause of cancer: dealing with natural sunlight is problematic enough. Neither do we need to expose our young, most vulnerable, to a contamination that will potentially take their lives. Melanoma is not the most common cancer, agreed; but it is one of the most lethal.
What to do about it?
- Contact your lawmakers to support a ban on tanning beds;
- Support melanoma survivor Jeremy Burfoot in his Ultimate Ride worldwide campaign to raise skin cancer awareness and prevention.
A survey of tanning salons revealed that 90% of the owners allowed teenage girls to tan more often than the three or fewer recommended sessions. Instead, 71% of the facilities said they would allow the teens to tan seven days a week.
But UV exposure from tanning beds has been linked to melanoma and squamous cell skin carcinoma, which prompted the International Agency for Research on Cancer to list sun beds and ultraviolet rays in the same high-risk group for causing cancer as plutonium and radium.
Researchers estimate that UV ray exposure before age 35 may increase a person’s risk of developing melanoma by as much as 75 percent. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 68,720 people will develop melanoma this year and 8,650 will die from the disease.
We don’t need one more artificial cause of cancer: dealing with natural sunlight is problematic enough. Neither do we need to expose our young, most vulnerable, to a contamination that will potentially take their lives. Melanoma is not the most common cancer, agreed; but it is one of the most lethal.
What to do about it?
- Contact your lawmakers to support a ban on tanning beds;
- Support melanoma survivor Jeremy Burfoot in his Ultimate Ride worldwide campaign to raise skin cancer awareness and prevention.
Ban tanning beds: i’ts a healthy thing.
SOurce: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=aHCjq9f9JVS0