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No Tan Is a Safe Tan
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 Moreover, claims that tanning may not lead to melanoma, as opposed to other forms of skin cancer, are based on cleverly skewed interpretations of complex molecular phenomenon, Fisher added.
"There is no controversy whatsoever about the presence of UV signature mutations in squamous cell carcinoma. You can see that the genes have been mutated in a way that UV directly caused it," he explained. "The melanoma connection to UV is probably indirect, so you wouldn't see the mutation directly in the melanoma cell even though the UV caused it."
"The tanning industry has seized on that complexity."
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A representative for the tanning industry refuted the findings using that exact argument.
"Here are three more studies that make irresponsible assertions without providing any concrete link between indoor tanning and melanoma," said John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association. "The fact is, UV light provides vitamin D, which helps the body ward off many types of diseases, and the rewards that come with moderate and responsible exposure to UV light far outweigh the consequences of not getting enough of it."
But Fisher noted vitamin D can come from other, safer sources.
"We know that vitamin D is synthesized in the skin after ultraviolet radiation hits the skin. It's how you couch the discussion when the indoor tanning association took out a full-page ad in The New York Times right before prom season and lists all the good things about vitamin D," Fisher said. "Basically, you're getting vitamin D from a carcinogen."
Not only can vitamin D be obtained from supplements, a simple blood test can tell a person if he or she is actually deficient in the vitamin.
The World Health Organization and other organizations have called for a ban on sunbed use by individuals under the age of 18. According to the papers in the journal, the industry has lobbied against such a ban.
More information
Learn more about skin cancer at the American Academy of Dermatology.
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Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 9/18/2008
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SOURCES: David Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., chief, department of dermatology, director, Melanoma Program in Medical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and professor, pediatric hematology/oncology, Harvard Medical School, Boston; Marianne Berwick, Ph.D., M.P.H., professor, internal medicine, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, and associate director, population science, Cancer Research and Treatment Center, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque; John Overstreet, executive director, Indoor Tanning Association; October 2008, Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research
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