Nukewatch Quarterly Spring 2015
TEQUEST, Florida—According to the National Cancer Institute, the use of commercial indoor tanning beds causes roughly 400,000 cases of skin cancer in the United States every year, and 6,000 of them come in the form of melanoma, the deadliest form. Still the salons are allowed to promote themselves by promising beauty and, believe it or not, “better health.” Tanning salons are big business with about 14,000 salons nationwide in 2014. There are more tanning sites in sunny Florida than there are McDonald’s restaurants. And the “beauty” treatment is cheap, about $7 for 20 minutes. The good news is that because of the growing concern over tanning’s cancer risks—melanoma has risen by one-third in women under 40 since the early ‘90s—40 states have restricted its use by minors, and nine have adopted outright bans for minors. In addition, the government documented the first ever drop in tanning among teenage girls and a recent decline in the overall number of tanning salons.
—New York Times, Jan. 11, 2015
Leave a Reply