“Drawing direct lines from tanning bed to melanoma can be complicated…”
The New York Times reports:
…Shenandoah and her rural neighbors have long been wary of the sun.
“It’s pretty common knowledge,” said Matt Tindall, the president of the Owyhee Cattlemen’s Association, “you wear long-sleeved shirts and big-brimmed hats.”
But Idaho has changed, and lawmakers and public health experts here are confronting a problem that they say has developed in one of its newer panoramas: suburban strip malls dotted with salons like Beach Club, Jamaca Me Tan, Planet Beach and Tan du Soleil. Along with an increase in white-collar workers seeking outdoor recreation on weekends, the use of tanning beds is viewed as a reason that Idaho consistently has one of the highest rates of melanoma deaths in the country.
“And the rate is rising,” said Patti Moran, the Comprehensive Cancer Control Program manager for the state’s Department of Health and Welfare. “That makes it even more of a public health issue”…
Drawing direct lines from tanning bed to melanoma can be complicated, depending on people’s other risks. Even without tanning beds, Idaho is an obvious candidate to be a skin cancer capital…
Hmph. I was taught that melanoma was usually traceable to severe
sunburn as an INFANT.