Published on February 7, 2012
Updated on February 13, 2018
A recent Congressional report found that tanning salons have often been lying to customers in order to increase their business. From downplaying the risks of tanning to promoting health benefits that don’t exist, tanning salons are taking advantage of young ignorance to boost the $2.6 billion industry.
Investigators found that of the 300 salons contacted, ninety percent told them indoor tanning posed no health dangers. Seventy-eight percent said that indoor tanning would actually improve health- preventing arthritis, lupus and a variety of other diseases. Fifty-one percent denied that indoor tanning increases the risk of skin cancer.
Young women aged 16-to-29 are the most common customers of tanning salons, and unsurprisingly, skin cancer has been on the rise for women in their 20s. Certain Congressional members have been pushing for the FDA to reclassify tanning beds. The Tanning Bed Cancer Control Act, H.R. 1676 would charge the FDA with reviewing classification of tanning beds from Class I medical devices, which includes cotton balls and Band-aids, to a known carcinogen along with tobacco smoke, asbestos and uranium.
Read the full article at CBS News.
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