As is already the case for alcohol and tobacco, the Academy of Medicine calls for a ban on promoting UV booths considering that it is “a practice unanimously recognized as dangerous for health, because considerably increasing the risk of melanoma, a particularly aggressive skin cancer ”.
Use of the positive image of athletes
The staging of high-level athletes, usually associated with positive values such as health and impeccable hygiene of life, particularly annoyed the Academy. While it would be advisable to prevent in athletes, in particular high level, the increased risk of developing melanoma, precisely because of often prolonged exposure to the sun, artificial sun vendors offer clubs and federations the installation of cabins and their free access. The Academy of Medicine regrets that, by infiltrating the world of sport, tanning professionals thus give themselves a positive image of youth, performance and apparently good health since permanent tanning would allow “to maintain a tanned complexion. and to do good morale, especially as winter approaches ”.
The dangers of UVA
All UVA exposures are dangerous and of no benefit to the health of populations. The Academy of Medicine recalls that it is an overexposure to UVA that allows pigmentation of the skin. These exposures do not provide any of the benefits touted by tanning professionals: the intake of active vitamin D is not linked to the action of UVA rays and can easily be taken orally; exposure is not accompanied by pigmentation or thickening of the epidermis, which would participate in effective protection of the skin; finally, in the treatment of seasonal depression, UVA rays are of no use and only light therapy can have some efficacy.
