Recently, California passed a bill banning all minors under the age of 18 from using indoor tanning beds. Currently, at least 31 states regulate the use of tanning beds by minors through provisions such as requiring parental consent. Mississippi bans the use of tanning beds by minors under the age of 14 and requires parental consent for minors between the ages of 14 and 17. Mississippi also requires tanning bed operators to limit exposure time, and operators must provide and require eye protection for all tanning bed users.
Starkville is home to five different salons for indoor tanning. Students can purchase packages ranging from $5 for an individual session to almost $400 for a full year’s worth of unlimited tanning.
A year’s worth of tanning equates to approximately 60 to 100 hours spent under fluorescent lights. Tanning beds work by producing ultraviolet light, which is the light humans receive naturally from the sun. However, when the light is naturally received, elements in the earth’s o-zone layer lessen how humans are directly affected. A tanning bed is essentially a concentrated source of UV light. According to Pediatrics Digest, the UV light in a tanning bed may be 10 to 15 times more powerful than of the midday sun.
Exposure to UV rays has health benefits. According to the World Health Organization, 10 to 15 minutes of UV exposure per week can be beneficial to the body’s production of vitamin D. Vitamin D functions by increasing calcium and phosphorous absorption from food. However, very few people suffer from a vitamin D deficiency. Those most likely to lack vitamin D are those who are house-bound, such as the elderly. For an average student, the daily walk across the drill field between classes would provide adequate sun exposure needed for vitamin D production.
WHO powerfully insists the dangers of tanning strongly outweigh the health benefits. Lifelong or short term, overexposure to UV radiation can negatively affect skin, eyes and the immune system. Specifically, skin cancer is strongly linked to frequency of sun exposure.
There are two types of skin cancer: melanoma and non-melanoma. Non-melanoma is very treatable with extremely high survival rates. Melanoma is also treatable, but only if caught early. If left undetected, melanoma can be fatal. The National Cancer Association says in the U.S. in 2008, there were 8,420 deaths as a result of melanoma. The risk of melanoma increases by 75 percent when use of tanning beds and sunlamps begins before 30 years of age.
Countless studies have provided proof of the link between tanning beds and melanoma. A recent report from researchers at the University of Minnesota states melanoma risk was pronounced among users of indoor tanning beds. They discovered frequent tanning bed use increased the risk of melanoma, regardless of when use of the tanning beds began.
A study from WHO says around 132,000 cases of malignant melanoma occur worldwide each year, and most skin cancers are attributable to an overexposure to UV light. The International Agency for Research on Cancer moved tanning beds to their highest cancer risk carcinogenic rating in 2009. A carcinogen is any substance directly involved in causing cancer, such as cigarettes or asbestos.
Beatrice Secretan works for the Cancer Monograph Working Group at the International Agency for Research on Cancer. This group is a part of WHO and has been researching the dangers of tanning beds and trying to restrict their use, specifically among young people.
“The use of tanning beds can be deleterious to your health and we hope to encourage governments to formulate restrictions and regulations for the use of tanning beds,” Secretan said.
Cancer is not the only risk involved in tanning. While most use tanning beds to look more youthful, too much UV exposure can actually cause wrinkles and premature aging. According to WHO, UV rays break down the skin’s elasticity and collagen. UV rays also do significant damage to the eyes and immune system.
“The effects of UV on the eye include cataracts, pterygium (a white colored growth over the cornea) and inflammation of the eye such as photokeratitis and photoconjunctivitis. Furthermore, excessive UV exposure can suppress the immune system, possibly leading to a greater risk of infectious diseases,” according to a study from WHO.
Sharon Miller, M.S.E.E., a Food and Drug Administration scientist and international expert on UV radiation and tanning, said most people who use a tanning bed use it to achieve this “healthy glow,” but there is nothing healthy about a tan.
“Any tan is a sign of skin damage,” Miller said. “It’s well established that UV radiation from the sun causes skin cancer. Since lamps used in tanning beds emit UV radiation, the use of indoor tanning devices also increases your risk of skin cancer.”