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ARTIFICIAL TAN
What about the rays?

BY STEVEN STYCOS

While most people put on gloves, scarves, and heavy coats in the winter, others take off their clothes at tanning salons.

As wedding and prom season approaches, many Rhode Islanders visit one of the state's 118 tanning parlors. The tanning industry contends that "smart tanning" actually reduces the risk of skin cancer, but dermatologists caution that tanning, indoors or outdoors, damages the skin and can cause skin cancer.

In fact, a 1994 Swedish study found that people under 30 who used sun beds or sun lamps were almost eight times more likely to develop malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, than those who did not. Nevertheless, an industry group, the International Smart Tan Network, contends in promotional material, "In the war against sunburn, tanning salons are part of the solution." Moderate tanning, the group claims, reduces the risk of sunburn.

Doctors don't agree. Regularly going to a tanning parlor "is just plain foolish," says Dr. Elizabeth Welch, a Providence dermatologist who sits on the Rhode Island Medical Society's governing council. Tanning once in a lifetime for a wedding or senior prom, "isn't terrible" says Welch, but all tanning damages the skin's DNA and increases the chances of contracting skin cancer. Tanning before a Caribbean vacation makes little sense, she adds, because the result is equivalent to a number four sunscreen.

Welch also charges that the industry misuses information to make tanning sound beneficial, especially to women, who comprise 70 percent of tanning customers. The International Smart Tan Network notes that Vitamin D has been linked to lower incidence of breast cancer. Because ultraviolet light from the sun and tanning machines helps the body form Vitamin D, the industry argues, tanning is beneficial.

Ultraviolet light is a needed form of Vitamin D and Vitamin D may reduce the risk of cancer, Welch agrees, but she says that just a few minutes outside is enough for adequate Vitamin D conversion. If people are concerned about getting Vitamin D, drink milk and eat salmon, she says, because "going to the tanning parlor's not the way to get it."

The Rhode Island Department of Health also advises people to minimize their exposure to ultraviolet light, says Marie Stoeckel, chief of occupational and radiological health. State regulations prohibit parlors from tanning a person more than once in 24 hours and require warning signs about the danger of tanning while taking certain drugs, she notes.

Issue Date: January 25 - 31, 2002