In an issue of Pigment Cell & amp, a ‘trio’ of studies in the field of melanoma research has been published that emphasize ‘UV rays from tanning beds are no better than the sun itself’.

These studies primarily aim at two main concerns about healthy tanning beds and UV rays – firstly, evidence is accumulating that there is no such thing as a ‘safe tan’; and secondly, UV rays cause skin cancer, no matter where you get them from. Furthermore, the professed health benefits of UV rays, like vitamin D production, if not out rightly wrong, are definitely overstated.

Last year in spring, the Indoor Tanning Association had launched its nationwide campaign, wherein it questioned the link between sun exposure and the deadly skin cancer melanoma- and claimed that tanning promotes good health by boosting vitamin D levels. Its full-page ad in the New York Times highlighted that exposure to UV light causes the body to produce vitamin D, which research suggests is protective against a host of diseases.

In a news release, the spokeswoman for International Tanning Association, Sarah Longwell, said: “Both the sun and tanning beds have been unnecessarily demonized by special interests using junk science and scare tactics.”

The health experts, on their part, are trying their might to fight back against this aggressive campaign by the tanning industry, which portrayed sunbathing and the use of indoor tanning beds as fairly ‘safe’, and even ‘good’. In the aforesaid series of papers published, leading researchers in the fields of melanoma research, dermatology, and cell biology have called for increased regulation of the indoor tanning industry.

The president of the Society of Melanoma Research, David E. Fisher, and colleagues, has accused the tanning industry of trying to confuse the public about the health benefits of tanning. Fisher said: “This effort to portray tanning and tanning beds as good for health ignores the fact that exposure to ultraviolet radiation represents one of the most avoidable causes of cancer. There is no question that this exposure causes thousands of skin cancer deaths a year.”

The American Cancer Society reveals that nearly 60,000 cases of melanoma and more than 1 million cases of non-melanoma skin cancer have been diagnosed in the US this year. Fisher said: “These cancers are absolutely caused by UV exposure. There is no question about that.”