Fake Tan: Could this be the end of tanning beds?

People have been on the fence for the past 15 years when it comes to tanning beds. Dermatologists have been raising their concerns about the health risks, and campaigned for these machines to be put to bed.

A survey by French magazine 60 millions de consommateurs revealed that a majority of tanning centres do not abide by the rules and regulations, including informing customers about the potential harms of these beds.

Yikes! Ladies you better be careful!

Should we ban tanning beds?

“Skin cancer can be induced after chronic exposure to sunlight. It can develop with or without sunburn,” explains the French Union of Dermatologists. Often presented as a simple, harmless and effective way of tanning, the typical tanning bed emits UVA, which does not cause sunburn. In contrast, what we are exposed to when walking in the sun or suntanning on the beach is another ultraviolet ray called UVB. “But some scientists have demonstrated an association between UVA irradiation and malignant melanoma, the most serious skin cancer. Exposure to UVA can also cause premature skin aging and damage to the immune system of the skin,” they added.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has also labelled tanning beds as one of the most hazardous cancer-causing agents. Those under 30 years old could face a 75% increase in risk of developing skin cancer!

So far there are two countries that have had enough of these tanning machines. As a country fiercely exposed to sunlight with one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, our neighbour Australia had just banned tanning beds from the start of the year. They are the second after Brazil.

We doubt that Singapore would be the third seeing whitening skincare is a major best seller like in most Asian countries. If you are looking for that exotic bronze skin, why not try a different approach?

Maureen Diament and Natasha Gan