We’ve all heard for years and years that visiting the tanning salon (note: this guy is opinionated!) can lead to the development of certain types of skin cancer. However, I also think it seems like an “empty threat” to most young people.
“I’m going to get skin cancer? Yeah, right. I haven’t gotten it yet. I don’t know anybody that’s gotten it from tanning.”
Sure, you might not immediately develop an odd-looking mole, but after a certain length of time, developing some type of pre-cancerous or cancerous skin cell is nearly inevitable. And getting it later doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be in your 50s when the cancer cells rear their ugly heads.
Check out this video. I think it can really put things in perspective for people in their teens and 20s because it briefly profiles a 21-year-old woman who developed melanoma after using tanning salons on a consistent basis.
According to the video, tanning before age 35 increases the risk of developing melanoma by 75%. Pretty scary number! But let’s play devil’s advocate and put this in perspective. Here are some stats on melanoma (this is just one type of skin cancer) from the American Cancer Society (2009):
- New cases = 68,720
- Deaths per year = 8,650
- 5-year overall survival rate = 91%
The United States population in 2009 was approximately 307 million, so what do these numbers mean in comparison to the entire country?
- New cases = about .02% of population
- Deaths per year = about .003% of population
- 1.5% of all cancer-related deaths in 2009
This begs the question: Is it worth making such a big deal out of tanning salons based on these numbers? My answer is ABSOLUTELY YES! We should not take any numbers for granted because even if a cancer is rare, it affects everyone in one way or another (I like to compare this to “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon“). More importantly, those numbers only represent a small portion of skin cancers that can be acquired from tanning. For example, non-melanoma skin cancer accounts for about 1 million cancer diagnoses every year. And can you get this from tanning? You betcha.
Here’s one solution that’s been in the news lately. Part of the recently passed healthcare bill proposes a 10% tax on tanning services to dissuade people from using tanning salons. Is this a good solution to the problem? Maybe, maybe not. According to Jan Meshon (see video above; he is also quoted in the link above), the government already has plenty of restrictions on tanning and salons just need to be more responsible.
So here are my typical questions: What do you think? Who really needs to be responsible: individuals, salons, the government, or some combination of the three? Would these stats effectively deter you from tanning in any way? Other thoughts?
Protect your skin, protect your life!
I’ll say that absolutely yes it’s deterred me from tanning salons! We’ve known these numbers and information for years and I can’t help but still feel a little bit surprised at what little impact they seem to have made on us sometimes. How many people (women in particular) do you know that go multiple times a week and pay good money to sit in a box that is meant to change your skin color? I can be a pretty pale Irish girl, and yes, some days I wish that my skin were the more fashionable and darker tone, but I’m not willing to take any additional or irresponsible risks with my life– especially if it’s going to cost me an arm and leg.
Whether the government and companies should be responsible is in itself an entirely different kind of question which, in the end, will be decided on individuals’ political outlook. Ultimately and regardless of government involvement (I’ll leave out companies here because, let’s face it, it will be a conflict of interests for them,) it will always be the individual’s responsibility and decision to keep themselves out of an avoidable harm’s way. Governments can educate, but in the end, they cannot control who decides to “lay out” on their back porch for hours on end.
Kaylea, I’m so glad you blogged about this. We live in such a tan-obsessed society that people often choose to ignore the huge risks of tanning to get that pretty golden glow. I myself have never been in a tanning bed–as a redhead with already sensitive skin, I’m pretty much the poster child for people who are likely to get skin cancer from even looking at a tanning bed. But, I’m not going to pretend like I’ve never thought about it or wanted to, I definitely have. And honestly, I think if I had more of the darker (but not “dark enough”) complexion of my friends, I would have gone to a tanning bed long ago. But the truth is, tanning beds are bad for EVERYONE, not just the glaringly obvious people like me. Lately, science is really harping on that and its good to see that some of our generation is listening.
I just realized I hadn’t replied to you girls yet!
Theresa: I agree. I hope more people become cognizant of all these increased risks and start to think twice because you’re right, government can’t stop them.
Christina: I’m in the same boat as you! I have very fair skin, but I’ve thought about going once or twice. I’m glad people are starting to listen to…it just makes sense. It’s so easy to prevent a skin cancer diagnosis this way!
Thanks to both of you for the input