UV Foundation Challenges Tanning Beds,Skin Cancer Study

[Tonya]

UV Foundation Challenges Tanning Beds,Skin Cancer Study
Email a Friend Print Bookmark Post Comment Posted on: 09/21/2007
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In response to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer regarding the association of tanning beds with skin cancer—specifically melanoma—by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), UV Foundation (UVF) President Jim Shepherd challenged the agency to stop misleading the public and tell the whole story about exposure to ultraviolet light and skin cancer.

This challenge came in the form of an open letter, in which Shepherd urged the IARC to redo its analysis because the results from the study counter the findings and conclusions of many other studies on the relationship between indoor tanning equipment and melanoma, including a review of the IARC data by William B. Grant, Ph.D.

Grant, who was commissioned by the UVF to conduct an impartial review of the IARC data, came to the opposite conclusion than did the IARC, finding that “some of the observational studies included in the meta-analysis included individuals with skin phenotype at increased genetic risk of melanoma without adjustment for skin phenotype, and many other risk-modifying factors were not considered in most of the studies—omitting those studies makes the results of the meta-analysis no longer statistically significant.”

Based off of Grant’s study, Shepherd suggests that the IARC study simply took the result the researchers wanted to find and included only factors that support that conclusion. Shepherd adds that the IARC study continues to discourage UV exposure despite mounting evidence that the benefits of regular, moderate exposure to UV radiation outweigh the risks.