Since the early 1990s, the total revenues of the indoor tanning industry have quintupled, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. The annual take for tanning salons is now a staggering $5 billion. The perceived healthy look and sex appeal of an artificially induced tan has overridden well-publicized concerns about the dangers of indoor tanning. Nevertheless, those concerns have steadily increased over the years, leading some states to ban teens from using artificial tanning equipment at all. The continuing boom in the tanning industry indicates that the message about health risks has not sufficiently penetrated the public consciousness.
Who Is Tanning?
White women 16 to 49 years of age have flocked to tanning salons, making up nearly three-quarters of the industry's clientele. Teens are turning out for artificial tans in record numbers, with an annual tally of well over 2 million. This has occurred, despite warnings from medical researchers that starting to tan at a younger age increases the risk for skin cancer by as much as 75 percent.
Types of UV Light
There are three wavelength classifications of ultraviolet light---UVA, UVB and UVC. UVC coming from the sun is contained by the ozone layer in Earth's atmosphere and generally does not reach the ground. According to NASA, UVB radiation destroys DNA in human skin and, if the body is unable to repair it, skin cancer can develop. The remaining type of ultraviolet light, UVA, was once believed to be generally harmless (although long-term exposure to UVA was known to make skin overly dark and leathery).
New UVA Concerns
According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, scientists now know that UVA light, the main radiation emitted in tanning beds, penetrates deeply into the skin and can be hazardous. In addition to causing immune system damage and cataracts, it may be more likely than UVB to cause skin cancers.
Tanning Salon Claims
The attractive brownish cast of Caucasian skin after exposure to UVA radiation comes from a pigment called melanin, produced by skin cells known as melanocytes to darken the epidermis, as a defense against further damage from UV radiation. However, it is now known that only people with naturally darker skin have any built-in defense. Tanning salon owners' claims that the UVA radiation of their tanning beds is safer than exposure to sunlight are out of date, yet many clients who are unaware of recent research are still willing to believe the industry. The Department of Health & Human Services specifically names artificial tanning as a cause of cancer.
Facts & Figures
The risk for developing malignant melanoma increases sevenfold in people who use tanning beds more than 10 times per year, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. The melanoma risk for anyone who has ever used a tanning bed even once goes up by 15 percent. According to U.S. Food & Drug Administration estimates, approximately 7,300 people per year die from melanoma.
Lawmakers' Responses
According to the National Institutes of Health, while 28 states have passed legislation to regulate indoor tanning, inspections and citations or infractions have thus far been insufficient.
