Thank you for tanning

Imagine opening up one of the local papers or coupon books around campus to see the ad "HYPE! Hypothetical 'Risks' of Smoking!" above a blurb on how recent research has proven that the dangers of smoking tobacco are greatly outweighed by the risks of not smoking. You'd be wondering if tobacco lobbyists, the kind seen in "Thank You For Smoking," had finally destroyed legislation barring false advertising, wouldn't you?

Well, you'd be pretty close. While tobacco, alcohol and firearms and the advertising related to these products receive close regulation and restrictions for the sake of public safety, the same cannot be said for another consumer product that has been contributing to rising rates of cancer among Americans -- indoor tanning.

As youth smoking, incidents of lung cancer and other diseases related to tobacco consumption fall, incidents of melanoma, especially among white females, have been rising at considerable speed. According the National Cancer Institute, it is only one of the many forms of cancer that has seen an increase, according to their 2007 report.

This disturbing trend, along with the rise of lobbying groups such as Sun Light Scam and Berman and Company seeking to inform the public on the "myth" of the correlation between tanning and melanoma, has me wondering why in the world such a dangerous practice is so unregulated compared to other vices.

If I wanted to inform the public on my stance on how there is no correlation between incidents of alcohol poisoning and the consumption of beer, especially if I just so happened to namedrop a brewery I work for as one of these bastions of non-alcohol non-poisoning, I'd be laughed out of every venue I approached. Yet, Sun Light Scam was able to run an entire page in The New York Times denouncing the statistics of the correlation between indoor tanning and rising melanoma incidents. Their own "statistics" showed that it's more dangerous not to use indoor tanning due to the innate human need to absorb Vitamin D, even though only about 20 minutes of exposure to the sun every day is considered adequate enough to avoid deficiency. These 20 minutes of sun exposure can be easily attained just by walking to and from class, and you don't have to wear goofy goggles while doing it.

By the same token, if I wanted to buy cigarettes and beer for my underage cousins so they could look hot at their middle school dance, I could get arrested. Yet the same regulation is not enforced for the potentially addicting tanning bed craze; in fact, it is condoned and even encouraged in many areas. In North Carolina, you just need one signature from a parental figure to allow unlimited tanning for a minor. In many other states, no other restriction exists. While many tanning salons adopt their own morality clauses for the practice of over tanning and allowing young people to tan, others simply choose the basic regulation route of requiring the parents' signature.

Outside of the basic waiver and a small plaque that warns first of "premature aging" before risks of skin cancer, salons see very little government interference compared to other cancer-inducing vices.

If the local and federal government isn't planning on regulating tanning salons any time soon, I'd like to offer up my own version of warning young women away from the dangers of tanning and the risk of melanoma - my own scars, and the scars of others like me that are naturally disposed to melanoma even with proper sun protection. Maybe my own story of the risk of losing my right breast, my mother's worry over my cancer being malignant and yearly biopsies I need to keep track of my potentially malignant melanoma can stand as a warning for those who can avoid this kind of trauma to their bodies.

If salons are as dedicated to keeping their clients healthy as they say they are, I'm completely willing to record one of my biopsies, or the various visible scars over my body for new clients to view to see if they're willing to be tan for a month in exchange for a lifetime of being cut open, tested and sewn up every year.

My doctor tells me I can participate in the same beach and pool-related activities anyone can, as long as I wear proper sunscreen, but that tanning beds are absolutely out of the question due to the inherent nature of UV poisoning and the lack of protection available from it.

We could listen to her, or maybe we should just keep listening to what the tanning bed manufacturers tell us is safe and what's "hot."

This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.