Professional indoor tanning facilities do a better job teaching the correct usage of chemical sunscreen than “sun scare” groups who manufacture and mass-market the product, according to the International Smart Tan Network. Our position is based on the following:

• The “Sun Scare” industry is promoting daily use of chemical sunscreen year-round in any weather. That is misbranding the product.
• Simply stated, sunscreen should only be used as a tool to prevent sunburn whenever sunburn is a possibility. It should not be used on a daily basis in climates and seasons when sunburn is not possible.
• Think of chemical sunscreen the same way you think of cough syrup: It’s a product you should use only when you need it. If a pediatrician told you to give your child cough syrup 365 days a year — even when they didn’t have a cold — would you do it? Yet that’s what those who mass-market chemical sunscreen and dermatology industry lobbying groups are telling you to do.
• The professional indoor tanning community teaches proper sunscreen usage more effectively than those who simply tell the public to wear the product 365 days a year: The tanning community’s approach is more credible and practical.
• Why all the deception from “Sun Scare”? Follow the dollar. Chemical Sunscreen sales have increased thousand-fold from millions to billions in sales with fear-based marketing. These manufacturers are not permitted to claim that their product prevents melanoma, so they pay dermatology groups to infer that it does, even though research doesn’t agree.
• To change their message from “use sunscreen to avoid sunburn” to “use sunscreen to avoid any UV exposure” Big Pharm and Derms had to convince people that any UV exposure is dangerous even though sun exposure is natural and intended.