By: Jaime Herndon

Tanning is harmful, whether it is out in the sun or inside in tanning booths. Indoor tanning is especially risky, as tanners are exposed to high levels of UV radiation, which causes skin damage and can increase the risk of melanoma. The CDC states that there is evidence that tanning salons are most likely to exist where there is a high population of girls and women ages 15 -29, and near colleges and universities.

A study conducted by the University of Colorado Denver’s Prevention Research Center (PRC) for family and child health and the University of Massachusetts Medical School-Worcester PRC looked at environmental factors and indoor tanning with young adults. They found that students could often pay for tanning sessions at tanning salons with school-sponsored IDs and debit cards, had tanning salons on their college campuses, and participate in unlimited tanning sessions in off-campus housing as part of the rental agreement.

Denver researchers not only published a letter to the editor in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology urging universities to end these practices, but also raised awareness among other organizations about these findings. As a result, several universities, including Rutgers and the University of Illinois, ended their affiliations with tanning salons and their student ID cards.

Talk with your teenage and college-aged nieces and nephews about the dangers of tanning, especially indoor tanning. It might seems like a great deal that they can use their school ID to go tanning, but is it worth the later price of skin cancer and sun damage?

Photo: Ikonoklast Fotografie
Published: July 6, 2015