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Tanning is your body`s natural protection against sunburn - it is what your body is designed to do.
Many have referred to this process as "damage" to your skin, but calling a tan "damage" is a dangerous oversimplification. Here is why:
Calling a tan damage to your skin is like calling exercise damage to your muscles. Consider, when one exercises you are actually tearing tiny muscle fibers in your body. On the surface, examined at the micro-level, that could be called "damage." But that damage on the micro-level is your body`s natural way on the macro-level of building stronger muscle tissue.
So to call exercise "damaging" to muscles would be terribly deceiving. The same can be said of sun exposure: Your body is designed to repair any damage to the skin caused by ultraviolet light exposure. Developing a tan is its natural way to protect against the dangers of sunburn and further exposure.
Saying that any ultraviolet light exposure causes skin damage is a dangerous oversimplification. It would be like saying that since water causes drowning, humans should avoid all water. Yes, water causes drowning, but our bodies also need water; we would die without it. Similarly, we need ultraviolet light exposure; we would die without it.
It is the professional indoor tanning industry`s position that sunburn prevention is a more effective message than total abstinence, which ultimately encourages abuse. It is a responsible, honest approach to the issue.
Comparing the effects of tanning with those of smoking is not only preposterous, it’s also unfounded.
Dermatology industry leaders, in attempts to scare people out of the sun, often have compared tanning to smoking, making the statement that indoor tanning is like a cigarette for your skin. This hyperbole alone calls into question the credibility of overzealous anti-tanning lobbyists.
On one level, comparing the numbers is ridiculous. Smoking is related to 20 percent of all deaths in the United States and 30 percent of all cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. What`s more, lung cancer rates are 22 times higher for current male smokers and 12 times higher for current female smokers.
In contrast, 18 of 22 studies ever conducted on indoor tanning and melanoma have shown no connection at all, and the four that have alleged small increases in risk have all contained unexplained statistical anomalies. Additionally, the most recent study - the largest conducted to date - showed no connection between tanning and melanoma. And this study was authored by the author of one of the four studies that did allege a connection.
On another level, smoking introduces substances into your body that your body is not designed to process. In contrast, your body IS designed to process UV light, and in fact is reliant on UV exposure for natural body functions.
The public and the press look up to medical professionals as objective sources of public health information. But when dermatology industry lobbyists obscure the facts and distort the picture to attempt to influence health policy, that creates an abrogation of trust that is unfortunate for all parties involved, and the consumer suffers.
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