Fabutan Facebook Ad

This ad for Fabutan. I see it almost every single day on my Facebook page. If you click it, you link to this “news” page. Click through to the  Fabutan website, where a slideshow regales viewers with spurious claims of the benefits of artificial tanning. “Get a Dose of Vitamin D!” “Don’t Say Bon Voyage Without a Base Tan!” and “Don’t Get Burned”, a headline which goes on to suggest that the only cancer risks related to tanning are “burns and overexposure”, a claim that is simply not true.

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, “exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun or from artificial UV light (such as tanning beds and sun lamps)” is the first in a list of risk factors for developing melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. And, in a direct rebuff to Fabutan’s claim that no study EVER has linked exposure to UV radiation as a risk factor, the Canadian Cancer society asserts that “increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation is the most common risk factor for melanoma.”

If you happen to locate the Fabutan fan page on Facebook, you will be equally dismayed. It has 235 fans, of whom over 90% are young women, many in networks like “Mount Pearl Senior High School”, putting them firmly in their teen years. It boasts a string of headlines (no doubt penned by a corporately-paid PR Team, whose motive is not to provide readers with legitimate information relevant to their health, but rather to generate profit for their tanning business) trumpeting the health benefits of tanning, all of which seem to be related to the (undisputed) benefits of Vitamin D.

The scary truth is that “there are an estimated 132 000 cases of malignant melanoma (the most dangerous form of skin cancer) annually, and an estimated 66 000 deaths from malignant melanoma and other skin cancers.” (WHO) You don’t have to be a genius to see that melanoma poses a 50% risk of death. And while Vitamin D deficiency poses a risk of developing a host of health problems (including cardiovascular disease and some cancers), there are very simple, safe ways of ensuring you get adequate amounts. One way to ensure your body is getting adequate vitamin D is to take a supplement (1000 IU daily is recommended). Another method is to get about 10-15 minutes of unprotected sun exposure daily (without burning), although it’s worth noting that in northern latitudes the sun is too weak during the autumn and winter months to confer any benefits – your body simply won’t be able to metabolize vitamin D from its weaker rays. But that doesn’t mean you should resort to artificial tanning; pretty much nobody (apart from the tanning industry, that is) recommends using an artificial tanning bed as a means of getting your daily dose of vitamin D.

Why not? Because the UV radiation in tanning beds has been linked to a greatly increased risk of developing malignant melanoma. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, “people 35 or younger who used the beds regularly had a melanoma risk eight-fold higher than people who never used tanning beds. Even occasional use among that age group almost tripled the chances of developing melanoma. The World Health Organization recommends that nobody under the age of 18 should use a sunbed (remember that many of the Facebook fans of Fabutan were in secondary school networks), and further, that “recent studies demonstrate the direct link between the use of sunbeds and cancer.” They also cite some very scary statistics about the range in strength of UV rays emitted by tanning beds worldwide; some of them are “many times stronger than the mid-day summer sun in most countries.” The WHO itself recommends that people (especially fair-skinned people) stay out of the sun during the four-hour period surrounding solar noon (which occurs around 1 or 2 pm in our northern latitudes during daylight savings time). So if it’s not safe to be exposed to natural solar UV radiation at mid-day, how can it be safe to expose yourself to a tanning bed that may emit many times the UV radiation of natural noon-time sunlight?

Add to this the fact that Canada has absolutely no legislation governing the artificial tanning industry (many European countries control the levels of UV radiation and restrict use to individuals over 18, as does California) and it creates a very dangerous climate. The tanning culture is strong in North America, and young women in pursuit of the beauty myth are particularly vulnerable.

A lot of you will know that my own mother recently died of melanoma. And although she never spent a minute in an artificial tanning bed, and in fact never exposed herself to any undue risk related to the sun, the fact remains that UV radiation and tanning beds are major risk factors for this horrible disease. UV radiation may not have caused my own mother’s cancer, but it could be the cause of tens of thousands of cases of melanoma (and the inevitable fear, pain and loss for those involved) each year. I myself used tanning beds dozens of times during my teens and early twenties. I spent hours and hours lying on docks, decks and beaches in search of the perfect tan and — for a few teenaged summers — espoused the benefits of getting a few severe sunburns early in the season in order to facilitate better tanning through the rest of the summer.

When I read the list of risk factors for melanoma, I put a checkmark beside each and every one of them for myself. I must admit it; I live in fear of this disease that I can’t help but feel is my destiny. I made decisions for myself as a young woman, and I can’t go back now, armed with twenty-first century information, and change them. But the  young women I see on Fabutan’s fan page today; they could make smarter decisions. The information is out there. But companies like Fabutan, in search of profits, obscure that information, and misrepresent themselves under the banner of vitamin D.

And that could end up killing someone. And that really burns me.