The Tuscaloosa News recently ran an article on a link between tanning beds and cancer. Arguing for a link between cancer and tanning beds were a World Health Organization study and a professor at the University of Alabama medical school. Because every story must have two sides, the T-news sought out (apparently not very hard) someone to argue that tanning beds don’t cause cancer: “But some say that the tanning bed is better than tanning in the sun.”
Who did they find? Medical researchers, tanning bed industry experts? Nope. A local tanning bed customer, a tanning salon owner, and a tanning salon manager. They probably made reasonable arguments in favor of tanning beds at least, right? Nope. The tanning bed customer argued that “If I don’t tan here then I’ll burn when I get out in the sun.” I guess she never heard of sunscreen. The tanning bed owner’s argument? The study is “a joke . . . Tanning is just like anything on the face of the planet; it’s all about moderation.” Yes of course, research proves that everything is fine in moderation–like lead, mercury, and asbestos. The arguments in favor of tanning beds have nowhere near the credibility of the evidence that the radiation they produce causes cancer, and the Tuscaloosa News does its readers a disservice by implying that they do.
Tags: journalism, science, Tuscaloosa