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n > ■ a • . • 1 aiming can cause premature aging BY CAROLYN POIROT KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS i “Just look at all these freckles and brown spots. Look at these wrinkles. Do you want your skin to look like mine?” 1 asked my 1 S-year old daughter, a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, who thinks that somehow youth protects you against the hazards of ul traviolet radiation. She rolled her eyes. It was the week after Christmas, and she had just informed me that she “reactivated” her membership in a nearby tanning salon because she couldn’t wait until she got back to Austin to work on the tan she was sure to need for spring break. “There’s no such thing as a healthy tan,” I insisted. “You are beautiful just the way you are.” She rolled her eyes again. “That’s because I have a tan, a beau tiful, golden tan, right now,” she insist ed. “It just makes me feel good,” she added, with a confident smile. Aha! Wake Forest University re searchers are right: You can get addicted to tanning. In a study, reported in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology last summer, researchers found that peo ple felt significantly more relaxed and less tense after lying in a real tanning bed compared with lying in a placebo bed with no UV light. They speculated that tanning might stimulate secretion of mood-boosting endorphins for a “drug-like reinforcing effect.” In other words, they found that tan ning beds can be habit-forming. And that’s not a good thing. I-,— --- Consumer Reports investigated 296 tanning salons in 12 states for a study, published in the January issue, under the headline, “The Unexpected Dangers of Indoor Tanning.” Researchers found that many tanning salons not only deny or downplay the possible risks of their service but also en dorse unsafe practices, said Ron Buchheim, who edited the report. Seventy-five percent of the surveyed employees said you could tan every day or come in as often as you wanted, even when researchers identified them selves as beginners; and nearly 35 per cent denied that indoor tanning can cause cancer and/or premature wrin kles, brown spots and other signs of aging skin. About 6 percent even permit the dangerous practice of tanning without protective eye shields. More than 20 percent said minors, who might face the greatest long-term risks, could tan without parental con sent, Buchheim said. Nearly 30 million Americans, in —-1-1——t ; “It’s a potentially dangerous pleasure.” RON BUCHHEIM ‘THE UNEXPECTED DANGERS OF INDOOR TANNING' EDITOR eluding a growing number of teen-age girls, are expected to visit tanning salons in 2005. Young people are at special risk be cause the health hazards of tanning are cumulative, and abnormal cells have a longer time to eventually blossom into dangerous tumors within their life span, Buchheim said. “Cancer might not have time to ma terialize if you set the same factors into motion at 60,” he pointed out. “That certainly also applies to skin aging. UV radiation can be better con trolled inside, but our evidence indicates tanning salons do not control as scrupu lously as they could and should. “It’s a potentially dangerous pleasure.” The best way to prepare for spring break is to try out several sunless tanning creams and stock up on sunscreen. 1 1 I I 1-1 IT . J Stephanie LilickjLa, stands in a tannina S booth at HoHywboo Tans in King or / Prussia, Penn. ; LAURENCE jfesTERSON/ |SrT CAMPUS