Dermatology leaders — unable to convince people to stop tanning by overstating the risks associated with UV overexposure — should turn to another fear-based tactic: Showing people pictures of wrinkled skin and claiming tanning will lead to severe wrinkling.

In other words: If the facts don’t convince people that UV is evil — which conveniently benefits those who market products designed to block UV exposure — stop using facts and trade one fear-tactic for another. That’s the subject of a paper published this week in the Archives of Dermatology by Dr. June Robinson, a Northwestern University dermatologist whose history as an anti-tanning lobbyist has been conspicuously withheld from public relations efforts promoting the paper.

“They’re not worried about skin cancer, but they are worried about getting wrinkled and being unattractive,” Robinson told NBC News and MSNBC.

NBC identified Robinson as a dermatology professor at Northwestern University. They neglected to mention that Robinson served as president of the American Academy of Dermatology and that she has been actively involved in political efforts to overstate the risks associated with UV exposure.

“Robinson’s paper is talking about using misinformation in order to change behaviors rather than being scientific and putting risks and benefits in their proper context and letting people choose for themselves,” Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. “That’s not science. It’s politics.”

Click here to read the MSNBC story.