The tanning debate continues on with one group stressing the benefits of vitamin D and another group stressing the dangers of UV rays. We’ve talked about these issues before, and the arguments are constantly coming up. Definitely a big issue having to do with the tanning industry.
Here is a well-balanced article that tackles the issue and lays out the pros and cons of both tanning and sunscreen. The article definitely seems favorable to getting some rays here and there, as it mentions that we are seeing new breakouts of vitamin D deficiencies that could be very costly to our health.
So again, we have two main sides to the debate. One side stresses that we need sun and the vitamin D that comes with the UV and then the other side stresses that UV rays are carcinogenic and that we should avoid them at all costs.
In the end, moderation is the answer. We don’t want to fry in the sun all day – this leads to sunburns and possibly other future complications such as skin cancer. But we also don’t want to avoid the sun all day either. We’ve lived with the sun for a long time and there’s no reason to abandon it now. A fearmongering sunscare message is not going to get us anywhere except perhaps a low vitamin D level.
After all, UV rays give us our much needed vitamin D and even fight depression. Knowing to moderate and live a healthy life is key to a long and happy life.
Not sure if this product has reached the States yet or not, but if you do come across something like this, you might want to consider holding off on purchase.
There’s an interesting fad that is going on in the UK (and from the looks of it is about to fizzle out) that involves snorting some type of mysterious nasal spray that is supposed to give the user a tanned skin tone. The product is called Ubertan and has been banned from being sold in the UK, though its not illegal to use it apparently. There’s been a number of complaints, with some people even ending up in the hospital with dizziness and racing hearts and the like. Apparently the product hasn’t been rigorously tested to meet health guidelines and can have unpredictable effects on certain people.
The whole thing looks like some sort of fraud. The ingredients are mysterious, there’s not a whole lot of information about how the product works, the owner of the company has been hard to contact and everything looks very dubious.
We know there are lots of exciting new products out there to help get that perfect bronzed skin, and there are plenty of excited customers out there who really feel a boost to their self-esteem when they have that tanned body they want. But it wouldn’t be a bad idea to approach a snortable fake-tan product with caution.
Last week we mentioned a bill that was introduced to Congress that would repeal the tan tax. There are a few articles up that discuss the political details of that process.
It turns out the tan tax repeal bill has a much more complicated background than originally thought. The ITA helped get the bill together and approach Washington politicians with the repeal, but repealing the tan tax is looking to be part of a greater project in dismantling the health care reform, which ties many different interests into the passage of the bill.
The ITA, many in the Republican party, and many business owners around the country are interested in the bill being passed, while certain Dermatological groups, as well as many Democrats, will be interested in the bill not passing.
Again, many interests are in play regarding this bill, and it will definitely be interesting to see what happens.
Last month, The IndoorTanning Association organized a “Repeal the Tan Tax” event in D.C., sending lobbyists to drum up support for a push to repeal the tan tax.
It looks like the Republican Party is going to be introducing the bill to repeal the tax.
Reasons for repealing the tan tax are as follows:
- The tax brings in less money than was projected so it really isn’t that effective.
- The tax unfairly targets smaller, lower-earning businesses with a large percentage of women owners.
- The tax has hurt many businesses and tanning customers, many of them women and college students.
- An estimated 18,000 tanning businesses have closed, resulting in the loss of some 24,000 jobs.
It will be interesting to see what happens next. Cross your fingers that the bill goes through!
A full story can be found here.
Amidst all of the shouting and screaming coming from the sunscare crowd as of late, there have been instances of pending legislation and even passed legislation on indoor tanning bed restrictions popping up all over the country.
Definitely hard to tell when all the noise will die down, but in the meantime, many tanning salons and tanners themselves are increasingly turning to spray tanning, which is a tanning salon service that has become more and more popular as time goes on. There’s certainly been a lot of buzz in the media about the service. Definitely a trend to keep in mind.
