moon
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2007
- Messages
- 3,478
I'm very pale, with blue-green eyes. Thankfully the comments I get frtom time to time "Get some color!" haven't pushed me to think I *need* a tan, and I avoild it like the plague. A fashion trend is not woth the risk
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6180854
Agency labels tanning beds 'definitely carcinogenic'
By Sonja Ryst
Inquirer Staff Writer
Lynda Charles learned the hard way.
The Lancaster County resident first used a tanning bed before her wedding in 1986 and then continued each summer. About three years ago, a mark on her leg, which she noticed had darkened, was diagnosed as potentially fatal melanoma.
Though her dermatologist cut out the cancerous spot, leaving a 4.5-inch scar, another spot was removed about a year ago - and Charles worries about getting more. She has not used a tanning bed since then and tries to avoid exposure to the sun.
"I'm the only one that goes to Aruba and comes back looking like she wasn't in Aruba," she said.
Charles' experience is just the type that prompted an increased warning yesterday by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The unit of the World Health Organization put tanning beds on its list of agents labeled "definitely carcinogenic." The list already includes salted fish, alcoholic drinks, and tobacco.
Tanning beds had been on the agency's "probably carcinogenic" list.
"Sunbeds use ultraviolet radiation in higher intensity than sunlight," said the agency's Vincent Cogliano, who co-authored a report on radiation risks in the August issue of The Lancet Oncology, a medical journal.
The report said that using tanning devices before age 30 increases skin melanoma risk 75 percent. Indoor tanning is widespread in Northern Europe and North America, particularly among women and young people, the report said.
"Because tanning beds produce the same UV light as the sun, overexposure and abuse of our product - just like overexposure to sunlight - is associated with an increased risk for some types of skin cancer," John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, said in an e-mail yesterday.
Dennis McShay, 46, the owner and operator of Tropical Rays in Haddon Heights, Camden County, said he had age spots from fishing shirtless.
When he saw a doctor about his spots, he learned they are not cancerous but was warned to be careful about exposure to the sun. His grandfather had melanoma.
McShay said he continued to use his tanning beds himself.
"Twice a week is better here than going outside every day," he said. "The medical field and the tanning industry should work together."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6180854
Agency labels tanning beds 'definitely carcinogenic'
By Sonja Ryst
Inquirer Staff Writer
Lynda Charles learned the hard way.
The Lancaster County resident first used a tanning bed before her wedding in 1986 and then continued each summer. About three years ago, a mark on her leg, which she noticed had darkened, was diagnosed as potentially fatal melanoma.
Though her dermatologist cut out the cancerous spot, leaving a 4.5-inch scar, another spot was removed about a year ago - and Charles worries about getting more. She has not used a tanning bed since then and tries to avoid exposure to the sun.
"I'm the only one that goes to Aruba and comes back looking like she wasn't in Aruba," she said.
Charles' experience is just the type that prompted an increased warning yesterday by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The unit of the World Health Organization put tanning beds on its list of agents labeled "definitely carcinogenic." The list already includes salted fish, alcoholic drinks, and tobacco.
Tanning beds had been on the agency's "probably carcinogenic" list.
"Sunbeds use ultraviolet radiation in higher intensity than sunlight," said the agency's Vincent Cogliano, who co-authored a report on radiation risks in the August issue of The Lancet Oncology, a medical journal.
The report said that using tanning devices before age 30 increases skin melanoma risk 75 percent. Indoor tanning is widespread in Northern Europe and North America, particularly among women and young people, the report said.
"Because tanning beds produce the same UV light as the sun, overexposure and abuse of our product - just like overexposure to sunlight - is associated with an increased risk for some types of skin cancer," John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, said in an e-mail yesterday.
Dennis McShay, 46, the owner and operator of Tropical Rays in Haddon Heights, Camden County, said he had age spots from fishing shirtless.
When he saw a doctor about his spots, he learned they are not cancerous but was warned to be careful about exposure to the sun. His grandfather had melanoma.
McShay said he continued to use his tanning beds himself.
"Twice a week is better here than going outside every day," he said. "The medical field and the tanning industry should work together."
Anybody who has the time for a tanning bed could spend 15 minutes under the natural, late afternoon sun to get their vitamin D. But that won't give them the look they are going for, hence the use of the tanning bed, to get maximum "sun" exposure in the shortest amount of time.
Cancer is cancer - the only problem is, in most cases skin cancer will kill you much, much quicker than the smoking-related cancers.. Not a lot of "lingering" - right to the point.. Most people I have known with skin cancer were dead in less than 8 months..
