To
tan or not to tan
By Amy Cucinella
On-line Forty-Niner
With
spring comes many things: love, blossoming
flowers, Spring Break, and for many people,
frequent visits to the nearest tanning salon.
Despite the known health risks that tanning
presents, people continue to frequent tanning
booths, especially this time of year.
“Right now is our busiest season,” said
Emily Zamorano, an employee at $3 Tan in
Seal Beach. $3 Tan is a salon used by many
Cal State Long Beach students.
“With Spring Break kids want to get tan
faster and it’s not warm enough to go outside,”
Zamorano said.
Many people also visit tanning salons a
few times before going on trips to places
like Hawaii so that they don’t burn on their
vacation, Zamorano said.
A study released last May by the Journal
of the National Cancer Institute found that
people who use tanning devices are about
twice as likely to develop common types
of skin cancer than those who don’t use
the devices. The study also indicated that
the younger people were when they started
getting indoor tans, the higher their risk
of skin cancer.
For years many in the medical profession
have warned against the consequences of
indoor tanning, and in 2000 the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services declared the
solar ultra violet radiation used in sunbeds
to be “known human carcinogens,” or cancer-causing
agents.
However, the Skin Cancer Foundation found
that these warnings did not stop an estimated
28 million Americans who visited an indoor
tanning salon in 2002.
Living in Southern California increases
pressure on people to have tan skin, said
Zamorano, who said she tans once or twice
a week.
“I think living by the beach makes it almost
feel like an obligation to be tan,” she
said. “I just go for a little color. I
just want to be comfortable so I can wear
shorts and not feel like a ghost.”
Color or no color, Heather Skow, senior
electrical engineering major refuses to
tan at indoor salons and avoids natural
UV exposure as well.
“It’s just not healthy,” Skow said about
tanning beds. “It leads to skin cancer
and wrinkles. Plus, my dad had skin cancer
so I’m prone to it.”
Not everyone is capable of tanning, some
just freckle and burn. For those who can
tan, the brown pigment melanin is produced
and distributed in the superficial portion
of the skin, the epidermis, in the days
following exposure, the Skin Cancer Foundation
found.
This build up of melanin can help provide
future protection against exposure, said
a study on TanningTruth.com. The Web site
is dedicated to exonerating indoor tanning
from its reputation as an unhealthy, cancer-causing
habit and is put out by an indoor-tanning
group.
With the precautions taken by salons today,
“tanning is smart” for several reasons,
according to TanningTruth.com. The Web site
insist that the skin cancer rates appearing
now are a result of careless and ignorant
tanning behaviors from the 1960s through
the 1980s and that there are safety precautions
existing today that minimize the risk of
exposure.
Such safety tips put out by the tanning
salon industry include not allowing skin
to burn, but to tan at a slower pace and
build up a base tan. Also, if people have
a family history of skin cancer or are very
light skinned, they should avoid the use
of tanning beds. The tanning salon industry
said that the salons have improved because
they no longer use the most harmful UV rays.
This isn’t enough consolation for Skow,
who said she will not be tanning over spring
break.
“So it may be safer than it used to be,
but that doesn’t preclude you from getting
cancer,” Skow said.
Zamorano recognizes the risks associated
with indoor tanning and said she thinks
most patrons of the salon are aware of the
risks as well.
“People don’t care as much if it’s damaging
because it makes them feel good about themselves
to have a nice color. That confidence is
worth it to them,” Zamorano said.
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