The Sun Factory Online
An excerpt from the Smart Tan advisory "IARC Report Declaring UV "Carcinogenic to Humans" ignored conflicting information"
JACKSON, Mich. (July 29) - The International Agency for Research on Cancer ignored conflicting information in its classification of ultraviolet light as 'carcinogenic to humans' - a one-dimensional conclusion that benefits the $35 billion sunscreen industry, which has strong financial ties to most of the dermatology community today, and forgets the fact that humans need UV light to live.
"If a pharmaceutical company sold you sunshine, we wouldn't be having this discussion right now," International Smart Tan Network Vice President Joseph Levy said. "Instead, we are dealing with a report that now has the press comparing Mother Nature's most important creation - sunlight - to arsenic and mustard gas. It's ludicrous."
"Saying that UV exposure is harmful and should be avoided is as wrong as saying that water causes drowning, and therefore we should avoid water."
No data has ever been presented suggesting that UV exposure in a non-burning fashion is a significant risk factor for any skin damage, nor has a mechanism been established whereby UV causes melanoma, which is more common in indoor workers than in outdoor workers and which occurs most commonly on parts of the body that don't get regular UV exposure.
IARC cited its own report alleging "risk of skin melanoma is increased by 75 per cent when people started using tanning beds before age 30." Ignored in this statement is confounding information pointing out that:
• IARC's analysis was flawed. When the palest individuals who cannot tan (called Skin Type I - people who are not allowed to tan in North American tanning facilities) were removed from the IARC data set, there was no increase in risk for the group being studied.
• In fact, 18 of 22 studies on this topic show no statistically signficant relationship between indoor tanning and melanoma - including the largest and most recent study.