This Just In: Tanning Causes Cancer
Thanks again for the photo, Laura.
Tanning salons have more to worry about than just being burgled. We've been wondering all week how the Wallingford Desert Sun will respond to the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer's recent decision to put tanning beds and ultraviolet radiation in their top category for cancer risk. Published online Wednesday in the medical journal Lancet Oncology, the agency's new meta-analysis of over twenty epidemiological studies concluded that skin cancer risk increases by 75 percent when people start using tanning beds before age 30. And UV exposure now officially causes eye cancer. Woof.
A clue as to how Desert Sun might respond came in the form of a statement issued by a representative of the tanning industry:
The classification of tanning beds as carcinogenic was disputed by Kathy Banks, chief executive of The Sunbed Association, a European trade association of tanning bed makers and operators."The fact that is continuously ignored is that there is no proven link between the responsible use of sunbeds and skin cancer," Banks said in a statement.
Ummmm....except that's no longer the case. Since this new classification means tanning beds and ultraviolet radiation are definite causes of cancer--"alongside tobacco, the hepatitis B virus, and chimney sweeping, among others"--we wonder if Desert Sun would finally see fit to take down their ridiculous sign. Anyone been by recently?
