Australian tanning franchises and the Australian Tanning Association now are required to publish notices in salons and on Web sites warning the public that tanning damages skin. This ruling comes after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took the association, as well as tanning companies Body Bronze and Tropical Sun Industries, to federal court, alleging the claims each group made about the natural protection mechanism of tanning were false and misleading.
The country's tanning industry now must post the following warnings:
- There is medical or scientific evidence which links tanning equipment use with an increased risk of skin cancer.
- Tanning does not materially protect the skin from sunburn.
- Skin damage caused by ultraviolet light may not be repaired by the body's skin-repair mechanisms.
- Damage to the body caused by ultraviolet-light exposure occurs without sunburn.
Source: FoxNews.com
