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Recently, health outlets blasted out some of the latest news on indoor tanning. Headlines followed along the lines of: “Adult women favor banning teen tanning” or “Adult Women Favor Stricter Indoor Tanning Regs” flourished throughout the web. Sometimes, it seems that these types of anti-tanning posts all tend to run together and it can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff (if you’re under 40, you may have to look up that reference).
Nonetheless, I read through one of them – Science Daily – to see if there was anything noteworthy to glean. Well, it just so happens that there was.
It cited a recent study in which women who currently tan indoors were surveyed and found to be in favor of stricter policies to prohibit indoor tanning for “children” 18 years of age and younger. NOTE: At that same age, a person can marry, obtain birth control without parental consent, enlist in the military, and drive a vehicle.
The fact remains that millions still enjoy obtaining their UV exposure in moderation from indoor tanning systems.
Now, if you took a snippet of info from the study and wanted to form a particular opinion, you could point out that almost 75 percent of women favored stricter controls. If you took another statistic, you could point out that almost 80 percent favored stronger health warnings on tanning equipment. Wow! Pretty strong numbers. However, if you wanted to bend the survey results in support of indoor tanning (and very few, if any, actually did) you could point to the fact that 90 percent – yes, 90 percent – were against a total ban on indoor tanning.
Could you imagine that headline? “Overwhelming Majority of Women Are Against a Tan Ban!” That would certainly rock a lot of readers’ worlds. Maybe just wishful thinking on my part; but do you think a total ban is impossible? Ask indoor tanners in Australia and Brazil, where it is in fact, banned.
Now, let’s look at another headline. Recently, the New York State Attorney General had hand-picked a salon chain to “go after” regarding health claims. The case was settled without the operator incurring any fine. Not a dollar. The company did have to remove all health claims from its website and would incur fines if they returned to making these types of claims. But in the midst of the media’s coverage of this case – and most were touting it as a “win” for the NY AG – was an interesting development. A few salon operators who were interviewed suggested that tanning salons were being unfairly singled out; business was down and salons are closing as a result of the Tan Tax and Obamacare. Well, the media needs to sell itself every day and decided to grab a headline something like: “10,000 tanning salons close due to Obamacare!” As most of us know, the Tan Tax was implemented in 2010 under the guise of supporting Obamacare; well, that and also to serve as a strong impediment to salons in their (the Feds) effort to reduce skin cancer.
Hey, there are a lot of reasons for that downturn in salons. Along with Obamacare, the economy, less discretionary income, gas prices and over-saturation of salons in many cities all contributed, just to name a few. But the fact remains that those salons still in play are stronger as a result. It also remains that millions still enjoy obtaining their UV exposure in moderation from indoor tanning systems.
Be proud of your business, seek out and spread factual info on indoor tanning – information that you can get from Sun is Life Training & Certification. Find out for yourself at sunislife.com.
A 26-year industry veteran, Joe has taught certified salon operator training for the last 15 years, as well as advocating indoor tanning in many capacities. Joe is a sought-after speaker and presenter at both national & regional trade events, also interacting with the FDA, state & local regulatory agencies. During his most recent tenure with the ITA, he served as director of membership.
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