ASA News | January, 2013
Teens and tanning debate continues
Pennsylvania basketball star finds relief from disease by visiting tanning salon
Connecticut Salons Volunteer Tougher Protocol for Teenage Sunbed Usage
A Connecticut tanning industry group’s efforts to promote self-regulation of the teenage tanning issue in Connecticut gained press attention this week.
Tom Kelleher, owner of Tommy’s Tanning based in Connecticut, and Karen Bentlage of Future Industries met with members of the press in the capitol building in Hartford, Conn., this week. Kelleher and Bentlage have already spearheaded an effort to sign nearly 100 salons to the self-regulatory pledge.
Kelleher and the Connecticut group are working with an ASA lobbying group to promote the effort. Here are three stories that appeared today from their meetings:
http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/tanning_industry_takes_measures_to_police_itself
http://www.ctmirror.org/blogs/indoor-tanning-minors-ban-ct
http://courantblogs.com/capitol-watch/ct-tanning-salons-offer-up-new-rules-for-teenage-tanners/
MedPageToday.com: Tanning ‘Myths’ Targeted by New Salon Group
Medical news service MedPageToday.com, Friday, reported on the American Suntanning Association’s efforts to combat myths about UV exposure, putting anti-tanning lobbyists on the defensive to explain inaccuracies in their allegations about sunbed usage.
“It is time to have a higher-level discussion about UV light from the sun and from sunbeds. The ASA is going to be a constructive party in that discussion, demanding a consumer-first conversation differentiating proper sun care from blatant overstatements about the risks of UV exposure,” ASA president Bart Bonn is quoted as saying.
Finally brought into the discussion: The fact that an often-cited World Health Organization criticism of sunbed usage in fact implicated dermatology’s usage of sunbeds but not commercial salon usage and that almost no one has reported that data correctly.
ASA board members Doug McNabb and Diane Lucas are also quoted in the article, emphasizing the ASA’s focus on combating myths as well as raising salon standards and educating employees and consumers.
“We want to shed some light on that data and make sure people are making decisions on the basis of scientific facts and not on the basis of a newspaper headline or a TV news show,” said McNabb.
