U.S. Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin had an indoor tanning bed installed in the Alaska governor’s mansion shortly after becoming that state’s governor in 2007, an on-line journal reported on Monday.

“The governor did have a tanning bed put in the Governor’s Mansion,” Roger Wetherell, chief communications officer of Alaska’s Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, told the on-line journal NarcoNews.com — a whistleblower publication. “It was done shortly after she took office [in early 2007] and moved into the mansion.”

Palin, 44, has not commented on the tanning bed yet nor on her tanning regimen.

“People need to remember that indoor tanning was invented in Europe in light-deprived Northern European countries as a therapeutic exercise,” Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. “It should not be a surprise to anyone that an Alaskan turns to indoor tanning.”

This story may become more widely distributed, as NarcoNews.com has questioned the source of the indoor tanning unit and whether or not Palin purchased it or received it as a gift. The press may attempt to portray Palin having a tanning unit as ironic because McCain, who is not a tanner, has suffered from melanoma skin cancer.

Smart Tan has written extensively that McCain’s skin cancer should shed light on the fact that melanoma is most common in older men, but is actually decreasing in women under age 50 according to government figures in both the United States and Canada.

“McCain’s condition — attributed to years of sunburn on his type I skin as a prisoner of war in Vietnam — and Palin’s tanning bed should allow the tanning community the opportunity to tell our story correctly,” Levy said. “Smart Tan will continue to provide members material to support this.”

To read the story click here.