Tanning scare perpetuated in new book from sunscreen-dermatologist junk science complex

The sunscreen-dermatologist junk science complex continues to scare people with misinformation about tanning.

From a media release issued by the sunscreen-dermatologist funded SunAWARE:

Tanning salons may be the most dangerous places on earth for people under 30 years of age, according to Tanning and Melanoma, a new e-book released on the Kindle platform today.

A few well-established but little-known facts support this warning from author Mary Mills Barrow, executive director of the SunAWARE International Foundation:
– Just one session in a tanning salon before the age of 30 increases a person’s chances of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, by 75 percent.
– Of the seven most common cancers in the U.S., melanoma is the only one whose incidence is increasing, climbing 1.9 percent annually.
– The incidence of young people developing melanoma is increasing faster than any other demographic group, soaring by 800% among young women and 400 percent among youn men in the years between 1970 and 2009.

Taking the myths in order:

• Aside from the claimed risk being in the noise range for epidemiologic results, a reanalysis of the data from whence this factoid came shows that the risk of melanoma was nonexistent when the analysis was limited to tanning salon users.
• The reported rise in melanoma incidence is likely caused by over-diagnoses. Melanoma death rates have remained essentially unchanged for the past 35 years according to National Cancer Institute statistics.
• Melanoma death rates are actually declining for young women. As above, the increase in incidence is likely caused by overdiagnoses.