Here’s another reason to go get a spray on tan this winter, ladies.
In the U.S, rates of melanoma-skin-cancer- are on the rise. And they are on the rise faster for women than they are for men. A new study led by DeAnn Lazovich of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, indicates that the reason may lie in elevated levels of indoor tanning, for women.
In a study of people under age 50 with melanoma women who had tanned indoors were six times more likely than those who did not undergo artificial tanning to have the cancer diagnosed before the age of 30.
Where did the women have cancer? About a third of women diagnosed before age 30 had melanoma on their trunk, rather than the face or extremities, compared to 24 percent of women ages 40 to 49.
www.youtube.com
But tanning beds causing cancer isn’t new news. In 2009, The World Health Organization declared artificial ultraviolet radiation from indoor tanning devices to be cancer-causing. Nonetheless, people continue to seek out a fake tan, and the paler you are, it seems, the more likely you are to frequent a salon.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, nearly 70 percent of customers who attend tanning salons are Caucasian girls and young women.
Some states have taken steps to try to protect tanners against their own glowing desires by putting legal limits in place.
California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas and Vermont have passed laws that prohibit minors under the age of 18 from indoor tanning and Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have passed legislation banning minors under the age of 17 from using tanning devices.
Oregon and Washington have passed laws prohibiting minors under the age of 18 years old from using indoor tanning devices, unless a prescription is provided.
Melanoma is the deadliest skin cancer as it can spread to other parts of the body, including the lymph nodes and distant organs.
It causes over 9,000 deaths in the United States every year.
Photo credit: Pavel Rumme/Shutterstock
