Many people enjoy tanning over the summer, however in a recent report by the surgeon general, these tans may come at a price, especially if they are obtained using indoor tanning salons.
In 2009, indoor tanning devices were classified as Class I human carcinogens by the World Health Organization. Now, the United States Surgeon General is urging Americans to avoid tanning through prolonged sun exposure and indoor tanning salons.
Surgeon General Boris Lushniak said skin cancer is a major public health problem. He urges people, especially teenagers and young adults, to forgo sitting in the sun in favor of seeking out shade. He said UV exposure, from indoor or outdoor sunbathing, is strongly associated with most common skin cancers.
The sun is the most common source of UV radiation exposure, but it is not easily avoidable. However, Lushniak said, UV exposure from utilizing indoor tanning facilities is completely avoidable.
"I am coming out quite vehemently against youth exposing their skin to ultraviolet radiation in tanning booths," Lushniak said in an interview with the Washington Post.
Female high school students are among the biggest users of these indoor tanning salons, but according to the surgeon general, indoor tanning laws have been effective in lowering the amount of indoor tanning by female high school students.
According to the report, indoor tanning may be related to 400,000 cases of skin cancers.
"Right now we're seeing kind of a bad trend developing when it comes to skin cancers," Lushniak said. "Skin cancers - melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer - are increasing. It got to a point for us, right now, to be able to say, 'We need to have this call to action.'"
He says melanoma cases have almost tripled over the last 30 years, and as summer winds down and people head to the beach, he felt it was a good time to get the message out to people about the dangers of too much tanning and sun exposure.
He also calls for increased education addressing skin cancer prevention and sun-safety education. According to the report, very few states currently have legislation of these programs in place.
He said one issue is that the social norms in place reward people for tanning with compliments.
"A lot of times we compliment people, 'Oh, you look so tan. You're so relaxed, you must have been on vacation,'" Lushniak said.
He also emphasized the importance of everyone, at all levels, doing more to help people be informed and make shady areas more accessible for people who want to limit their sun exposure. He also said it's a call to action to the scientific and research communities to look into and strengthen current research as well as monitoring the disease and skin cancer prevention efforts.
