As Britain’s public health minister revealed the government’s intent to ban those under the age of 18 from using indoor tanning salon services, two scholars beg the question: Where is the scientific data to support such a decision?
Britain, like the U.S., has seen its share of damaging media assaults. Examples include the oft-cited International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) report, which states that UV exposure is a carcinogen; and the country’s own British Medical Journal, which claims that a quarter of a million of young Brits – ages 17 to 11 – tan indoors.
Scholars Patrick Basham and John Luik reviewed research regarding England’s melanoma situation and contend that a causal relationship between the medical condition and UV tanning cannot be proven. Among other observations, they note that most of the melanoma cases that were included in the research occurred on parts of the body where no UV sun exposure had taken place. One of the study’s own authors cautioned that people should not use the findings to overemphasize concern regarding UV exposure and melanoma – yet, the 2006 IARC report has done just the opposite. This, despite the study’s own authors acknowledging any connection between melanoma and indoor tanning as “weak.” (Or, as Basham and Luik point out, almost completely absent.)
To see the scholar duo dismantle additional “scientific studies,” visit the source link.
Related Articles:
The Truth About The Recent IARC Report
Study Challenges IARC Tanning/Melanoma Claims
Source:
spiked: Let’s put cancerous myths to bed
