With the objective of laying out approaches to curb skin cancer incidence in the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published two reports on sunburn incidence and indoor tanning usage Thursday \u2014 targeting conclusions about young women and indoor tanning while not mentioning a single word about the demographic most likely to contact skin cancer: men over age 50.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CDC\u2019s report is so transparently political \u2014 it is a scientific embarrassment if you actually understand the data about skin cancer,\u201d Smart Tan Executive Director Joseph Levy said Thursday. \u201cSkin cancer is increasing rapidly in older men. It is by far more common in older men. And they don\u2019t mention a single word about older men. It\u2019s like doing a report on the dangers of surfing but only talking about people in Kansas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report alleges 50.1 percent of all adults report at least one sunburn a year \u2013 a number that has not changed from 2000-2010 despite an increase in reported sunscreen usage. The report did not mention that sunscreen sales have increased much faster in that time period than the report\u2019s suggestion of just a minor increase in usage. The second survey reported that young women are the most likely to use indoor tanning equipment \u2014 attempting to make the case or infer that indoor tanning usage is somehow related to the fact that sunburn incidence in the general population has not decreased.<\/p>\n
Smart Tan surveys show that indoor tanners sunburn less often than non-tanners.<\/p>\n
CDC leaked the report to the Associated Press and to one other media outlet ahead of its publication, according to the CDC press office. Levy spoke with the Associated Press reporter Wednesday, who would not allow him to see the study in advance to comment on it. CDC denied Smart Tan\u2019s request to see the study ahead of publication. Had Levy not contacted AP, no tanning industry representative would have been quoted in the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sent material to AP for the story blindly \u2014 anticipating what it was about without being able to see the study,\u201d Levy said. \u201cHad we seen it we would have been able to point out to the reporter that the report ignored the group getting the most cancer with the largest increase in cancer. But AP talked to multiple parties promoting the study\u2019s conclusions \u2014 all of whom seemed to have advance access to the paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
The CDC report\u2019s conclusions and calls for action precisely match the American Academy of Dermatology\u2019s political agenda regarding indoor tanning \u2014 calling for restrictions on under-18 usage of indoor tanning facilities and asking FDA to reclassify tanning units in the same category as dermatology sunbeds. \u201cThat CDC is asking for FDA to reclassify tanning beds makes absolutely no sense in the context of this paper,\u201d Levy said. \u201cSuch an action will have no impact on the consumer\u2019s experience with sunbeds in any way. It will just add cost to the manufacture of the equipment. It\u2019s clear CDC was more interested in advancing AAD\u2019s politics than actually looking at reducing sunburn incidence in the population.\u201d<\/p>\n
CDC collected sunburn data on all age groups, but \u201canalyses were limited to adults aged 18-29 years\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n