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Have you ever heard of the saying, “it’s like bashing your head against a brick wall!”? I think most parents will be able to empathise with this idiom and have no doubt used it at one time or another; such as having to repeatedly admonish a boundary-pushing child for his frustrating continuance of a negative or even dangerous action or activity. Somehow, it doesn’t matter how many times you say one thing, the child will insist on doing the opposite.
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I have, unfortunately, been able to identify with this idiom in a professional capacity for many years now. Not internally with my own team or indeed with any of my customers; no – this scenario generally arises when I pick up the latest piece of published UV-related research that attempts to reinforce conclusions from earlier research claiming that, pretty much, all UV exposure is bad for us, particularly if it comes from a tanning bed. It’s essentially a “drip, drip” attempt to demonize our professional industry. Yet, when one takes a closer look at many of these studies and the reviews of such studies, there are clearly significant flaws skewing the outcome and conclusions.
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For years, we have known from the volume of published scientific studies that for anyone without any contra-indications to tanning, responsible UV exposure is fine. It’s the burning or overexposure to UV – whether from a tanning system or from the sunshine – that we know must be avoided. Yet, even with this significant available science, there has been an ongoing resistance by the authorities to acknowledge it. The alarming point is that public health policies, regulations and even legislation have all been influenced by the conclusions of these reports and the media. The campaign efforts of various vested organisations have also helped secure this misinformation in the public’s psyche.
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Despite, or even in spite of, our industry’s continued mammoth efforts, both locally and more recently, globally, to right the wrongs and “bust the myths,” it has been proving a very hard nut to crack. The upside to all of these efforts is undoubtedly a more professional industry, and I always like to look for a positive in any situation.
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But, we now have a serious game-changer.
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Two careful scientific reviews of available medical data used in the generation of the “anti-tanning bed” studies have been published in a scientific journal. The reviews have concluded that no causal relationship exists between moderate tanning bed use and an increased melanoma risk and, very importantly, refutes recent reports on UV exposure from tanning beds published by the EU and the World Health Organisation. The review authors highlight the flaws in the anti-tanning studies stating that they, amongst other issues, failed to follow established research protocols which ultimately enabled skewed conclusions to be published.
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This is just the start, folks. We now have to campaign, lobby, and indeed, demand reviews and correction of the misinformation in the public domain about responsible use of professional tanning beds. Our industry has been an easy commercial target for the anti-tanning lobby for many years, and it has to stop.
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We now have to campaign, lobby, and indeed, demand reviews and correction of the misinformation in the public domain about responsible use of professional tanning beds.
