The use of tanning beds is big business in the U.S.A., say Urban Social Artifice.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), about 28 million people every year enjoy the artificial scorching by the high-powered tanning lamps. Having that summer look in January — a tragicomic bit of public theater for the pale-skins of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin — exposes the zapped ones to high levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation and local, state and federal authorities are starting to limit access.

Even a single session under the tanning bed’s intense UV — 10 times that of the good old sun — increases one’s risk of contracting melanoma (the deadliest form of skin cancer) by 74 percent, according to  Jeff Shuren, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Melanoma has been authoritatively linked to severe sun burns, especially at a young age.

Indeed, In July 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a part of the UN’s World Health Organization, now places UV light in its highest cancer risk category — it said “carcinogenic to humans” — in the same league as cigarettes and cigarette smoke. Previously, it had categorized the devices as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

IARC’s report declared that UV radiation is more dangerous than previously believed, especially regarding infants and children. (This is also the scientific history of ionizing radiation emitted by nuclear reactors, uranium weapons, medical isotopes, etc.: The more science discovers about it, the more dangerous it becomes.)

Here in the US, some 2.3 million of the 28 million faux-tanners are teenagers. Because young peoples’ growing and changing bodies are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of UV than older patrons, the states of California and Vermont minors from using the indoor tanning machines. New York and New Jersey ban their use by youngsters under 17, and the cities of Chicago and Springfield, Illinois forbid minors access to the risky devices.

In May this year, the Food and Drug Administration finally proposed new rules for the tanning machines. The regulations require the manufacturers to affix cancer warnings — like on a pack of cigarettes — and to urge people under 18 not to use them at all. The new rules will also require the builders and markets of the “beds” to apply for approval of their “products” prior to distribution. “The science is clear,” says Dr. Mary Maloney, Vice President of regulatory policy at the AAD. “The risk of developing melanoma increases 75 percent for individuals who’ve been exposed to ultraviolet radiation from indoor tanning,” Maloney told the New York Times.

FDA Warnings Issued from the Top

Higher-ups at FDA are issuing warnings too. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told the press last may, “Using indoor tanning beds can damage your skin and increase your risk of developing skin cancer.” The FDA says that the UV machines can also cause eye damage, immune suppression, premature aging and allergic reactions. Goggles are a must if you have to risk your health for the look.

On the FDA’s website, scientist Sharon Miller, M.S.E.E., the agency’s international expert on UV radiation and tanning, says, “Although some people think that a tan gives them a ‘healthy’ glow, any tan is a sign of skin damage.”

“A tan is the skin’s reaction to exposure to UV rays,” Miller reports. “Recognizing exposure to the rays as an ‘insult,’ the skin acts in self-defense by producing more melanin, a pigment that darkens the skin. Over time, this damage will lead to prematurely aged skin and, in some cases, skin cancer.”

There are all sorts of radiation — ionizing, UV, electromagnetic (that is cell phones, etc.) — bombarding the young and the old in our high-tech world. Ionizing sort that smashes apart your DNA include permitted airborne and water releases of tritium, iodine-131, and strontium from operating reactors, medical isotopes, X-rays and CT scans, leaks from food and instrument irradiation machines, reactor accidents and metal recycling mishaps. Electromagnetic radiation from cell towers, mobile phones and WiFi hubs, etc. add to the cancer epidemic, albeit surreptitiously.
Don’t add to your chances of becoming an unhappy statistic just for the sake of a pose.