Study Finds Tanning Salons as Common as Starbucks in Some Towns
MSNBC reports that a new study on tanning salons by San Diego State University has found that they are as common as Starbucks and McDonalds.
"Just to put the number into context, we counted the number of Starbucks and McDonalds, two frequently occurring businesses," says Dr. Joni Mayer, professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at the Graduate School of Public Health in San Diego State University. "We knew that there were a lot of indoor tanning facilities but we didn’t really know that they would exceed the number of Starbucks and McDonalds in most cases."
The cities with the highest density of tanning beds are Charleston, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Akron, Portland and Columbia. Charleston has 18 tanning salons for its 53,000 residents.
The study also found that teens living nearby tanning salons are more likely to have used them. Discount pricing also makes teens use the tanning salons more frequently.
"We interviewed 6,000 teens across the country and those living within two miles of a tanning salon were significantly more likely to have used indoor tanning than those who didn't." says Mayer. "There's a significant association between living close to a tanning salon and using indoor tanning."
Another factor that comes into play is the cheap pricing.
"The majority if not all tanning salons offer discount price packaging on UV tanning," she says. "Which makes it very cheap per tanning session. It's like an all-you-can-eat buffet. To get your 'money's worth,' you tan more often."
Interest in tanning doesn't seem to have faded among teenagers even though there are known health risks:
Unfortunately, tanning more often means upping your risk of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer such as squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, studies have also shown that excessive exposure to UV radiation during indoor tanning leads to skin aging, immune suppression and eye damage, including cataracts and ocular melanoma. Even the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has declared both tanning beds — and that big fiery ball in the sky — to be known carcinogens.
Despite the health risks and alternatives like bronzers and spray-on tans there are still one million people tanning in tanning salons on an average day according to the ADA - and 70% of them are females aged 16 to 29.
MSNBC 
