Rare, Medium, or Melanoma

By Tom Secrest

It’s hard to know why it took so long to reach the conclusion announced on 29 July 2009 by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

If you stop and think about it, a sun bed, or tanning bed, looks a lot like some sort of futuristic device for grilling a very large klobása. Why humans would want to get inside and be bar-b-qued to a golden brown is an interesting social and cultural, question. Perhaps it’s because we believe that once sautéed to perfection, we will look like the models that are used to advertise the tanning beds.

However, the days of being ultravioletly grilled like a kabab may soon be over now that UVA light has made it onto the list of Class (Group) 1 carcinogens. You may recall that sun beds were supposed to be safe since the light bulbs used in sun beds generated more UVA and less UVB light. Vincent Cogliano, PhD, said studies have shown that UVA, UVB, and UVC all cause cancer in animal models and that evidence linking indoor tanning to melanomas was “sufficient and compelling.”

In 2006 the IARC published a report indicating that regular use of sun beds before the age of 30 increased the risk of melanoma by 75%. The group also noted that there has been a change in the character of the melanomas being seen today. The IARC reported that beginning in the early 1990s there has been a significant increase in the number of thicker, more deadly, lesions. Researchers believe that sun beds may have played a major role in both the increase in numbers as well as the change in the character of melanomas. Eleni Linos, MD, DrPh, Stanford University, one of the study co-authors, also noted that there are several studies indicating that tanning is on the increase again, particularly in younger women. The National Institute of Health reported that the number of cases of melanoma among young women tripled between 1973 and 2004. A personal observation, as I looked through Google images for pictures of tanning beds, of the 90 images I viewed, only one featured a male model.

Even before the announcement, Texas lawmakers were considering strengthening legislation that would require anyone under 18 to have a doctor’s permission and be accompanied by a parent in order to use commercial tanning beds. Current Texas law requires children under 18 to have a note of permission from their parent’s, children younger than 16 must be accompanied by a parent, and children under 13 require permission from a doctor.

Naturally there is a tanning bed lobby, who, not surprisingly consider the warnings to be overly alarmist and suggest that like most things, tanning beds, if used properly and in moderation, are safe. As I recall, these comments are strikingly similar to the comments made by the tobacco lobby and the plutonium lobby.

The next time you want something golden brown, consider throwing a steak on the grill and not yourself; there’s nothing wrong with being a whiter shade of pale.

The Lancet Oncology, Aug 2009, A review of human carcinogens – Part D: radiation.

Vocabulary

* medium rare – stredne propecený

* long reach – velký dosah

* tanning – opalující

* recall – pripomenout

* sufficient – dostatecný

* compelling – presvedcivý

* thicker – tlustší, silnejší

* lawmaker – zákonodárce

* considering – vzhledem k, se zretelem na

* strengthening – zesílení, posílení

* require – požadovat (se 4.pádem)

* permission –povolení, svolení

* accompanied – doprovázený

* surprisingly – prekvapive, kupodivu

* strikingly – prekvapive, nápadne

* throwing –házení, vrhání

* shade – odstín, nádech

* pale – bledý