The American Cancer Society on Thursday contradicted itself in a letter it sent to U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius calling for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to expedite action on the American Academy of Dermatology Association’s call for sunbeds to be regulated as Class II medical devices by FDA, which has regulated sunbed manufacturing as a Class I device.

In its two-page letter, ACS states, “Melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, has had increasing incidence rates for at least thirty years in the United States. This is in part due to the increased use of indoor tanning beds.” But ACS contradicts that statement in its own published literature. “During the 1970s, the incidence rate of melanoma increased rapidly by about 6 percent per year. However, from 1981-2000 the rate of increase slowed to 3 percent per year and since 2000 melanoma incidence has been stable,” American Cancer Society published in its “Cancer Facts and Figures” annual report in 2008 — the society’s most-quoted document. “The death rate for melanoma has been decreasing rapidly in whites younger than 50, by 3 percent per year since 1991 in men and by 2.3 percent per year since 1985 in women.”

“ACS cannot rationalize this contradiction — it clearly cannot support the statement it sent to NIH,” Smart Tan Executive Director Joseph Levy said. “We will work with the sunbed community’s lobbying groups to make certain this does not go unnoticed by those making decisions affecting sunbeds.”

The National Cancer Institute’s own data also conflict ACS’s assertion in its letter. According to NCI, melanoma incidence in men over 65 has skyrocketed in the past 30 years as compared to women 20-49.

The ACS also referred to an often-misquoted statistic alleging that indoor tanning before age 30 increases melanoma risk 75 percent. In fact, that statistic is derived from medical sunbeds and home sunbed usage, which made up half of the data set. Sunbeds in professional tanning salons did not significantly increase risk in that study.

In calling for salons to be regulated, ACS and AADA call tanning salon sunbeds unsafe, but AADA uses the word “safe” to describe its own use of sunbeds to treat psoriasis in dermatology offices. Dermatology sunbed sessions run up to $150 per session and, according to AADA, can result in blistering sunburns.

Changing sunbeds from Class I to Class II devices by FDA standards would be more costly for manufacturers to bring a sunbed to market, but would not inherently do anything to change the consumer’s experience with sunbeds in a salon. A non-binding FDA advisory panel — made up of temporary members which included past presidents of American Academy of Dermatology Association – in 2010 urged FDA to change the classification. None of the AADA officers added to the panel for that meeting declared leading AADA’s lobbying group as a conflict of interest, which they were required by law to do as part of taking place in the proceeding.

SmartTan.com news articles regularly report medical and scientific information to keep you abreast of current events related to UV light. This information is not intended to be used by any party to make unwarranted health claims to promote sunbed usage. Indoor tanning businesses are obligated to communicate a fair and balanced message to all clients about your products and services including the potential risks associated with indoor tanning. Contact your Smart Tan representative to find out more about what you can and can’t say in your tanning salon business.

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