The Beauty Habit That’s Sabotaging Your Health
This is troubling: In a recent survey we conducted with Yahoo, 27 percent of women ages 18 to 34 reported that they use tanning beds.
By Molly Triffin
This is even more troubling: Although tanning beds are a known carcinogen-indoor tanning before age 35 can raise your melanoma risk by 75 percent, and just one session can increase your skin cancer odds-the FDA barely regulates them. They're currently ranked as a Class 1 medical device, meaning they supposedly provide minimal potential harm to the user and so there's very little oversight (stuff like tongue depressors and gauze fall into the same category). Why would there be such lax supervision over a product that the World Health Organization has declared "carcinogenic to humans"? Not only does it makes zero sense, but it's also putting lives in danger.
Related: Scary Truths Tanning Salons Deny
Hopefully that will change soon. Earlier this week, Cosmo attended a congressional briefing in Washington D.C. to encourage support for the Tanning Bed Cancer Control Act, which would expand regulation of tanning beds with the goal of limiting the amount of UV rays they emit and the length of time customers can be exposed. We've been warning you about the dangers of unprotected UV exposure and urging you to practice safe sun for years now, but the government has to step up to the plate too.
Related: Death By Suntan at Age 26
As one speaker at the briefing put it, you'd think that turning a knob that looks like an oven dial and crawling into a box that resembles a coffin would set off alarm bells. Yet with the tanning industry trying its best to conceal the risks and telling people that tanning is safe or even healthy, there's an even greater need for regulation. Lack of federal oversight implicitly sends the message that tanning beds are NBD, and with that attitude, people will probably continue to tan and cancer rates will probably continue to climb.
We'll keep you updated on the latest news about the Tanning Bed Cancer Control Act, and whether the FDA takes action about this important legislation.
Find out more about our Practice Safe Sun campaign.
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