Whoops!
The World Health Organization
is warning Europeans that their "love affair" with tanning beds will cause cancer problems down the road...
From ABC/Reuters:
Sunbed-Loving Europeans Face Cancer 'Epidemic' - WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO), warned young Europeans Thursday that their taste for getting a tan even before they hit the beach could result in an "epidemic" of skin cancer within a decade.
WHO said sunbeds and sunlamps, popular with many tanning-obsessed Europeans, should be banned for under-18s and avoided by everybody else because of their link to cancer.
"We don't want to see an epidemic of skin cancers coming along some 10 years down the road," Michael Repacholi, coordinator of WHO's radiation and health program, said.
And the reason for using them?
Young females, many fair-skinned, often turn to "all-over tan," clam-shaped sunbeds ahead of a beach holiday.
"They think they are going to be protecting themselves by getting a tan before they go so they don't get sunburned when they get there. This is basically a myth, it doesn't provide adequate protection at all," Repacholi said.
Tangible numbers?
The annual incidence rate for melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer as it spreads to other parts of the body, is estimated to have more than tripled in Norway and Sweden since 1960, and doubled in the United States since 1975, the WHO said.
The Electric Beach is not that good for you... Take a look at people in their 50's who tanned regularly and you will be amazed at the difference. It is bad for your skin as well as promotes skin cancer (which is one of the worst).
Posted by DaveH at March 18, 2005 7:39 PM