The Smart Tan Creed – the centerpiece of Smart Tan’s Position Statement on professional indoor tanning – has been the cornerstone of Smart Tan’s scientifically supported position promoting the practice of smart indoor tanning for more than a decade.

“Our explanations have changed as the research has come into greater focus, but The Smart Tan Creed has been at the core of our position from Day 1 in the early 1990s,” Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. “We encourage every indoor tanning professional to commit it to memory.

The professional indoor tanning community’s scientifically supported position is summed up in this declaration: Moderate tanning, for individuals who can develop a tan, is the smartest way to maximize the potential benefits of sun exposure while minimizing the potential risks associated with either too much or too little sunlight.

This position is founded on the following tenets:

1. Ultraviolet light exposure from the sun or from an indoor tanning unit is essential for human health, and getting it in a non-burning fashion is the smartest way.
2. The professional indoor tanning industry promotes and teaches what we refer to as The Golden Rule of Smart Tanning: Don’t ever sunburn. For the past decade, the indoor tanning industry has been more effective at teaching sunburn prevention than those who promote complete sun avoidance. Since the mid-1990s, tanning industry research suggests that non-tanners sunburn outdoors more often than people who tan indoors. The professional indoor tanning salon industry is part of the solution in the ongoing battle against sunburn and in teaching people how to identify a proper and practical life-long skin care regimen.
3. A tan is the body’s natural protection against sunburn. Your skin is designed to tan as a natural body function, and the body is designed to repair sun damage as a natural process.
4. Every year, millions of North American indoor tanners successfully develop “base tans” before embarking on sunny vacations – tans that, combined with the proper use of sunscreen outdoors, help them prevent sunburn.
5. There are known physiological and psychological benefits associated with sunlight exposure and there are many other potential benefits that appear linked to sun exposure, but need further research. The potential upside of these benefits is considerable and deserves further consideration.
6. The body produces Vitamin D naturally when the skin is exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency has become a recognized epidemic in North America and overzealous sun protection practices likely have contributed to this.
7. The risks associated with UV overexposure are manageable for anyone who has the ability to develop a tan.

To learn more about Smart Tan’s position visit Smart Tan’s consumer information web site, www.TanningTruth.com. Call Smart Tan at 800-652-3269 for more information.