More Talk April 10, 2015 • The Tech Talk • 11www.thetechtalk.org

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INDOORTANNING

GROwING

SOCIALTREND

Design by Kelsy Kershaw

TOP: A Sun Tan City member utilizes her membership in the Fastest bed.

MIDDLE: Sun Tan City Ruston offers a variety of lotions and moisturizers to its members to promote healthy skin.

BOTTOM: Indoor tanning is a popular part of the younger American generation.

Photos by Brennen Lege

BRENNEN LEGEStaff Reporter

After arriving in America during the late 1970s, ar-tificial tanning machines have been a trendy, yet controversial piece of equipment in many cities,

Ruston included. Nearly 30 million Americans tan in-doors every year. Of those, seventy-one percent of tan-ning salon patrons are females, and two to three million of them are teens.

Elizabeth Perry, Assistant Salon Director at Sun Tan City in Ruston, started working in tanning salons her senior year of high school. She said the salon’s business peaks in March, and would stay busy until May.

“People come to tan every day because it’s a habit,” Perry said. “Some come for dances, weddings, anything where they will be showing enough skin to need a tan.”

Madelyn Cullpepper, senior secondary education major, said she used to go to Sun Tan City regularly, starting out with spray tans when she was 17, and even-tually moving on to using tanning beds two to three times a week. She said she felt more attractive in her cheerleading uniforms or formal attire for school danc-es when she tanned.

However, after noticing an irregular freckle on her skin, Culpepper began to panic and worry about devel-oping skin cancer. Thankfully, nothing ended up being wrong with her, but the scare was enough for her to quit her habit.

“I’m currently student teaching and I just taught about the integumentary system and dangers involved with tanning,” she said. “I don’t want to be a hypocrite telling my students the dangers of tanning, and still be doing it.”

As for the dangers Cullpepper spoke of, The Skin Cancer Foundation has posted a study on their web-page saying 419,000 cases of skin cancer in the US each year are linked to indoor tanning.

John Overstreet, the executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, has voiced his concern over sta-tistics being released which paint indoor tanning in a bad light.

In January, he told the New York Times there was

no science conclusively linking certain ultraviolet ray exposure to melanoma. According to his organization’s website, their mission is “to protect the freedom of indi-viduals to acquire a suntan.”

“The folks who don’t like this industry are exaggerat-ing the risks,” Overstreet told the Times. “It’s just like anything in life. If you get too much of it, it’s bad for you.”

Although tanning boosted her self-esteem, knowing the constant exposure to ultra-violet rays may have in-creased her chances of getting cancer by 33-percent has kept her from wanting to go back.

“I know there are dangers in everything we do, eat, or come in contact with,” Cullpepper said. “But when something is scientifically proven to be linked to mela-noma, there is no excuse to put yourself at risk.”

Taylor Nealy, a sophomore technical writing major, said she started her freshman year of high school at the age of 15. Nealy said she knows some of the risks, but cannot see herself quitting anytime soon.

“It’s just something everyone does,” Nealy said. “Es-pecially before dances like proms and homecomings or formal events.”

She said as long as she takes all the necessary pre-cautions in order to limit her exposure to ultra violet rays, like wearing protective eyewear, using sunscreen during the day and limiting her trips to the salon, she feels safe.

As of September 2, 2014, ultraviolet tanning devices were reclassified by the Food and Drug Administration from class I (low to moderate risk) to class II (moderate to high risk) devices. Brazil and New South Wales, Aus-tralia, have passed complete bans on indoor tanning in 2014. However, the United States shows no sign of slowing down, although several sates, including Louisi-ana, now hold restrictions on underage tanning.

With these new developments in cancer research surfacing via The Skin Cancer Foundation and the FDA, more questions and controversy arise from the exis-tence of indoor tanning salons, but for now, the choice to spend money on a tan is still held by the individual.

Email comments to bsl008@latech.edu.