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Tanning Is Having a Comeback. Experts Are Worried
newser.com • • health
Key Points:
- Social media has contributed to a resurgence in tanning popularity among young adults, with viral videos promoting tanning and tanning bed use despite health risks.
- Experts warn that tanning beds significantly increase the risk of melanoma, with users having nearly three times the risk compared to nonusers, due to high levels of UV radiation causing DNA mutations in skin cells.
- The World Health Organization classifies tanning beds as carcinogenic, comparable to tobacco and asbestos, and early use before age 20 raises melanoma risk by 47%.
- Dermatologists emphasize that tanning is unsafe and that awareness of skin cancer risks is declining among younger generations as tanning becomes fashionable again.
- The American Cancer Society projects over 100,000 new melanoma cases and approximately 8,500 deaths in the US by 2026, highlighting the public health concern linked to tanning behaviors.
