Viraj+Mehta

Indoor artificial tanning is a very popular cosmetic procedure. Unfortunately, it is also a very dangerous one. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, categorized tanning machines in the highest risk cancer category, “carcinogenic to humans”. Recent studies have shown that people who have tanned indoors have about a 75% higher risk of melanoma the most dangerous form of skin cancer. People who often went to tanning salons for more than 10 years or who logged more than 100 sessions were about 2.5 times more likely to develop the cancer. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in theUS, and melanoma, it’s most dangerous form, often proves to be deadly. Not only have tanning machines been tightly linked to cancer in studies, they have also shown to cause other health problems such as, premature aging, immune suppression, eye damage, and allergic reactions. In light of all of this convincing evidence about the risks of indoor tanning machines, I believe that legislation that regulates tanning should be passed. The 2010 health care bill imposed an additional 10% tax on indoor tanning customers. This will definitely discourage people from tanning indoors to a certain extent. That said, I believe that additional restrictions should be put in place. For example, a possible solution to the tanning problem is to have the salons regulate how often people tan. For example, people who routinely tan would have to obtain a government “tanning card”. Then every time they went to a tanning salon they would have to swipe the card. The card would show how many hours the person has tanned in the past week, and if this number exceeds a certain amount then the person would not be allowed to tan at the salon. In addition to this, the government should fund programs to educate people and increase awareness about tanning. Public service announcements on television and radio can be made to combat this problem.

If many steps are taken we can help raise awareness and reduce skin cancer.

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