DEADLINE TODAY: Support the FDA’s proposed indoor tanning rules

An URGENT message from the MRF's Executive Director:

"Friends,

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is poised to implement a new regulation that will dramatically reduce the incidence of the most common cancer in the country – skin cancer.

The number of Americans who have had skin cancer is estimated to be higher than the number of all other cancers combined. Melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, is deadly, and takes the life of someone in this country every hour of every day. All skin cancers, including melanoma, are tied to one common factor—exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

For much of our history, UV radiation was a matter of being in the sun. This changed with the shift to a culture that beautifies tanned skin, and—most significantly—with the introduction of tanning beds.

Today most cities have more tanning salons than they do Starbucks or McDonalds, despite the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported tanning bed lamps are proven to cause cancer and the U.S. Surgeon General has called on the nation to limit underage access to this known carcinogen. And, as research is increasingly proving, tanning is an addictive behavior. This might sound similar to the tobacco narrative we all know well – people are becoming addicted to something that will kill them.

Meanwhile, tanning salons across the country are promoting their services preferentially to young adults. Prom packages, spring break deals, and discounts with college student cards are all part of a concerted effort to hook teenagers on tanning.

Imagine your daughter, sister, cousin or best friend – a young woman with the whole world in front of her. A spot on her arm turns out to be melanoma. In that instant everything changes. She may be left with a scar, but also with wandering cancer cells that find fertile ground in her lungs, her liver, her bones, her brain. She may not live to turn 30.

I have met this young woman and so have you. Melanoma is the leading cancer diagnosis for women in their 20s. It is the fastest growing cancer in the world, and one that has managed to elude some of the world’s greatest researchers and scientists.

Indoor tanning beds are driving a cancer that affects nearly 5 million people in the U.S. every year. At what cost? Besides thousands of lost lives and immeasurable heartbreak, skin cancer – a cancer that is one of the most preventable – costs the U.S. more than $8 billion every year to treat.

The FDA has taken years to respond to this public health crisis but now, at last, the agency is taking action. It has proposed a rule that will ban the use of tanning beds by anyone under the age of 18. But this rule will not become law unless we, as a nation, support it.

The FDA made these proposed rules available to the public and we have the opportunity to show our support. The deadline to submit comments is today, MONDAY, MARCH 21, and I urge everyone to take five minutes to tell the FDA why we must unite as a nation to protect our youth from future cancer diagnoses. We have the chance to save millions of young lives, and we must not squander this opportunity.

We do not let 10 year olds buy cigarettes, or 12 year olds buy alcohol. Why? Because as a society, we protect our youth so we can watch them grow up to become the next promising generation. We must not let them down by failing to protect them from cancer-causing tanning beds.

This year about 150,000 people will learn that they have some form of melanoma. The vast majority of those people will receive that news because of UV radiation. This FDA regulation will, if enacted, change this.

Take action before it's too late.

Tim Turnham, PhD
Executive Director
Melanoma Research Foundation"

TO COMMENT ON THE FDA'S PROPOSED TANNING REGULATIONS: Click the link below and scroll down to the "How to Comment on the Proposed Rules" section.

http://www.fda.gov/…/Newsr…/PressAnnouncements/ucm477434.htm