The concern arises from increases in the incidence of melanoma and its related mortality. In the United States, the incidence of melanoma is increasing more rapidly than that of any other cancer. From 1992 through 2004, there was a particularly alarming trend in new melanoma diagnoses among girls and women between the ages of 15 and 39. Data from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Registry show an estimated annual increase of 2.7% in this group. Researchers suspect that the increase results at least partially from the expanded use of tanning beds.Russ and I discuss ultraviolet light in Section 14.9 of Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology. In particular, Section 14.9.4 is titled Ultraviolet Light Causes Skin Cancer.
Chronic exposure to ultraviolet radiation causes premature aging of the skin. The skin becomes leathery and wrinkled and loses elasticity. The characteristics of photoaged skin are quite different from skin with normal aging [Kligman (1989)]. UVA radiation was once thought to be harmless. We now understand that UVA radiation contributes substantially to premature skin aging because it penetrates into the dermis. There has been at least one report of skin cancer associated with purely UVA radiation from a cosmetic tanning bed [Lever and Lawrence (1995)]. This can be understood in the context of studies showing that both UVA and UVB suppress the body’s immune system, and that this immunosuppression plays a major role in cancer caused by ultraviolet light [Kripke (2003); Moyal and Fourtanier (2002)]. There are three types of skin cancer. Basal-cell carcinoma (BCC) is most common, followed by squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). These are together called nonmelanoma or nonmelanocytic skin cancer (NMSC). Basal-cell carcinomas can be quite invasive (Fig. 16.44) but rarely metastasize or spread to distant organs. Squamous-cell carcinomas are more prone to metastasis. Melanomas are much more aggressive and frequently metastasize.The Skin Cancer Foundation advocates vigorously for the reduction of indoor tanning, and the American Association for Cancer Research has also spoken out against tanning beds. The problem seems to be growing.
Fisher and James conclude their article
An estimated six of every seven melanomas are now being cured, thanks to early detection, but the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force does not recommend skin-cancer screening, since the evidence for its benefit has not been validated in large, prospective, randomized trials. Meanwhile, a number of promising new drugs for metastatic melanoma are progressing slowly through clinical trials to satisfy the FDA’s stringent safety and efficacy criteria—requirements that, remarkably, have not been applied to indoor tanning devices. Relatively few human cancers are tightly linked to a known environmental carcinogen. Given the mechanistic and epidemiologic data, we believe that regulation of this industry may offer one of the most profound cancer-prevention opportunities of our time.
I (naively) thought that tanning beds were a thing lost to the 1980's and 1990's. Just yesterday, visiting a local sandwich shop, I passed by a new tanning place having their 'grand opening.' They offered me a free tan and a handful of coupons to share with my friends. There were no customers and everyone passing by was ignoring their generous offer. Inside the sandwich shop, the new neighbors were spoken of almost as a joke. They will not survive there. Maybe people are getting this/your message.
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