To get a tan.. or not? Some news organizations say tanning in sunbeds poses the same high risk of cancer that smoking does. Some say this is an exaggeration. Yet others are saying that we are not getting enough sun.
France 24 tells us how tanning is harmful, especially to young people.
“Sunbeds have been moved into the highest cancer risk category by the world health organization. People under 30 who use the device increase their chance of the most serious form of skin cancer by 75 percent.”
Channel 3000 spoke with a woman whose brother died of skin cancer.
“In actuality, being out in the natural occurring sunlight, is two to three times less dangerous than being in a tanning bed.”
But TimesOnline says stop worrying so much about being out in the sun.
“Sunshine is not the main cause of the most dangerous form of skin cancer, according to researchers, who say some warnings about the perils of sunbathing are scaring people unnecessarily.”
CNN takes that a step further, saying people, children in particular, actually need to go out in the sun more. The network cites these numbers.
“7.6 million with vitamin D deficiency. That’s about 9 percent of the population. And you have nearly 60 million children who are vitamin D insufficient.”
“It’s gotten so bad that actually cases of Rickets are on the rise. And Rickets is a disease that doctors thought was long gone.”
A writer for The First Post says the media needs to quit scaremongering, period.
“The media are as irresponsible in their use of skin cancer statistics as people who don’t use sun lotion when they sunbathe.”
So what do you think? Do you think the media is generating a culture of fear, or is this something we should really worry about?
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