March 16, 2015
It’s been 20 years since Becky Lynn was diagnosed with skin cancer, and every year she celebrates the anniversary of the operation that took a fist-sized piece of her thigh but likely saved her life.
These days she looks at her three daughters, aged 11, 8 and 6, and knows they will soon face the same social pressures she felt to visit indoor tanning salons, and vastly increase their risk of getting the deadliest form of skin cancer (melanoma), in the process.
“I don’t think my parents really knew or would have minded that I was tanning,” says Lynn, who started using tanning beds when she was 16, and was going at least two to three times a week by the time she was in University. “They didn’t realize how easy it was for us kids to go artificial tanning, or how dangerous it really is.”
The facts are pretty stark: using tanning equipment just once before the age of 35 increases the risk of getting melanoma by 59 per cent. Just 10 tanning bed visits can double your risk.
Sadly, melanoma is already one of the most common cancers among 15-29 year olds.
To help reverse this trend, and prevent future cancers, Alberta Health Services has launched a new campaign: The Big Burn. This campaign and website (thebigburn.ca) are part of the Alberta Prevents Cancer strategy, which aims to reduce the risk of cancer in Alberta by up to 50 per cent. Focused on educating parents of children 10-15 years-old, the campaign encourages parents to talk to their kids before they even start tanning.
“Adults in Alberta may be generally aware of the risks associated with indoor tanning, but not everyone realizes how real those risks are,” says Dr. Gerry Predy, AHS Senior Medical Officer of Health & Senior Medical Director. “The fact is: artificial ultraviolet radiation used in these machines is in the same cancer-causing category as cigarettes, arsenic and asbestos. We talk to our kids about smoking and poison. We need to talk to our kids about tanning too.”
Think that your teenage hasn’t used indoor tanning? Might be time to think again. A youth survey conducted in 2012 found that nearly one in every five 15-17 year old Albertans had used an indoor tanning bed at least once, and one out of every three 17-year-old girls had visited a tanning salon.
“If we can help parents – and by extension, kids – be more aware that indoor tanning is a very avoidable cancer risk, we can help save lives.” says Predy.
Lynn agrees.
“When it comes to health, kids do look to their parents and other adults as examples, and for information,” says Lynn. “I’ve been pretty transparent with my kids. Skin cancer really didn’t run in my family. We didn’t grow up by the beach, or spend our summers lying out in the sun. But I was an indoor tanner. And I got skin cancer.”
“My message is simply: don’t tan. It can come at a real cost.”
