Tuesday, June 29, 2010
I was flipping through the TV channels one afternoon and heard a bronzed reality star on a talk show advise young women that in order to be beautiful they should be tan…all the time. I turned the channel only to find another talk show about three young women who hid behind “beauty crutc...
I think that finally, medical professionals have convinced our lawmakers of the deadly, disfiguring harm being sold as glowing beauty from tanning machines. There should be, if there aren't, a lot of expensive lawsuits coming once people realize the damage that was done to their skin, and their lives, by an industry which should have known better and probably did.
I just looked up at television and the news had a story about a tanning tax expected to raise about 2.7 billion dollars over the next ten years. I don't know if it was federal or state but I know the same has been done to the smoking industry. But somehow or other people are willing to pay for their addiction, which I think, both are. Well, I know smoking was.
So was tanning when I was a teenager, but there was no warning then, no tanning booths either. Just the sun and the belief of what you said here, that a tan was equated with health and good looks. So each summer meant hours lying in the sun, sweating. There was even a mistaken belief that it helped with acne. All untrue. With tanning booths the money is good and the damage doesn't show for years, or decades with either addiction, time enough to take the money and run.
Natural, undamaged skin of any color is one of the most beautiful things in the world.
Yes it is really interesting to see all of this come to light but still people are holding onto the idea that tanning doesn't do any harm. Just read an article that the fear of wrinkles is more of a deterrent than skin cancer is for young women who use tanning booths. I think people have the misconception that skin cancer can't happen to young people and this is simply not true. More and more young people are being diagnosed with skin cancer after needlessly exposing themselves to ultraviolet radiation.
It is always both surprising and apalling to me that the tanning salon industry keeps perpetuating that their tanning beds are healthy so that people can get their vitamin D. You do not need a tanning bed to get your Vitamin D. These myths are perpetuated by an industry who wants to keep selling their product.
All we can do is keep spreading the message so that the rates of skin cancer will decline. Even after all this information has come out from organizations like the American Cancer Society...people are still dieing needlessly from skin cancer when it is so very preventable. Young people think it won't happen to them...that melanoma skin cancer only happens to older people...it is not true.
Okay...I have said my piece. It is a very emotional topic for sure.
Thanks so much for your comment.