Final Presentation

My name is Brittney McCormick and for my topic I chose tanning beds and the body. The reason I chose this topic is because my mom has always told me that I was not allowed to use a tanning bed because I would get skin cancer, I wanted to prove her wrong so I used this as my way of doing so. I was hoping that I would be able to tan in the tanning bed for this project but due to my procrastination I was not able to. I enjoyed this project and learning about the facts and the things that we are told that are actually false.
The book I read was The Healing Sun, by Richard Hobday. By reading this book I learned a lot about the sun and what it can do for your body. The book itself was more on ways the sun can heal you more so than that of how it can harm you and how it differs from tanning beds, but I did learn a lot from the book. It basically said that you are at risk for skin cancer anytime you are exposed to UVA rays that are produced from the sun or the tanning bed lights.
For my interaction I went to ComopoliTAN and interviewed people and asked them some questions about skin cancer and tanning. Basically what I learned by this is that people think they are invincible from getting skin cancer. They also believe that they are addicted to tanning because they like the way it feels and the way that it makes them look.
The most interesting thing that I learned was that tanning beds are in a way healthier than laying out in the sun. You receive more Vitamin D but you are exposed to more UVA/UVB rays.
My final opinion on this project is that even though you are at risk when getting into a tanning bed and tanning I do not think that there is anything wrong with it.
I wish I had not procrastinated so long and gotten more into this project. In a way I wish I would have picked a different topic because this had a lot of science with it and sometimes it was boring. I also wish I would have picked a different book to read.

Interaction-Interview

For my live interaction/ interview, I spent part of my day at CosmopoliTAN and interviewed several people. I asked them questions about tanning and their thoughts on skin cancer. All of them said that they had not had skin cancer but had thought about their risk, however one said, “I am a little afraid of my skin cancer risk, but I feel like it won’t happen to me.” When I asked them if they thought they were addicted the majority of them said they thought they were because of the “glow” that they received after tanning. I also asked them if they had noticed any change of their skin since they began tanning and they said that, “I am tanner.” The main thing is that none of them are afraid of skin cancer and that is the biggest problem that I have found from my research.
From this experience I learned that people who tan are not worried about skin cancer. They all know about it but the majorities think they are invincible when it comes to their risk. I liked the facility and the people were very nice. However, I wish I could have been able to tan and do the interaction and interview that I wanted to do but this will suffice for me because of my procrastination. I enjoyed being there and learning about people’s thoughts when it came to tanning and skin cancer.

Fifth Critical Review

In the article, it says that tanning beds are generally safer than lying out for hours on end outside soaking up the rays of the sun. However, there are effects from tanning in a tanning bed. Overexposure to UV rays can alter your DNA which in turns leads to cancer. “The American Academy of Dermatology reports an increased risk of developing melanoma from overexposure to the skin on a tanning bed.” When talking about the eyes, tanning beds cause an increase of damage on the eyelids, or cataracts. One of the good things about tanning is that you receive Vitamin D.
I personally think that this is a truthful article because it gives both the negative and the positive sides to tanning in tanning salons. While eye damage seems to be a big deal it can be prevented by wearing the eye goggles. Also, it seems like you receive more Vitamin D from tanning salons instead of out in the sun. While cancer is a risk many think it is worth the risk because of our society today.


Sexton, Timothy. "Positive and Negative Tanning Bed Effects." Positive and Negative
Tanning Bed Effects. Lifestyle, 26 Feb 2009. Web. 16 Apr 2010. .

Book-length work Review

In the book, The Healing Sun, by Richard Hobday, he discusses all of the different types of things that the sun is good for, such as medicine, and Vitamin D. Richard also talks of the diseases caused by the sun, or by the UV rays that are produced by the sun. One of which is skin cancer which is caused by both the sun and by UV rays that we are exposed to in tanning beds. To us tanning is widely accepted and so is that risk of encountering or being exposed to malignant melanoma. Melanoma targets younger age groups because of the way we tan, or sunbathe. Even though we accept the fact that skin cancer is caused by tanning, Hobday says, “Its causes are still poorly understood and the exact nature of its relationship with sunlight exposure has yet to be determined.”
This book has very factual information and relates to my topic more than I expected for it to. I personally did not enjoy the book because it was informative, however, it did help me with my project. Melanoma is a very wide spread disease and does target younger age groups, I have found this to be true throughout my other research to and was not surprised because of how our generation is so lenient of tanning and laying out in the sun without protection, or by going to tanning beds.
The only real problem I had with this book is that it was on more than just that of my topic. It had to do with the sun itself and with diseases that were caused and or cured by the sun. I really only needed the book to be about tanning beds which was never really mentioned in the book it just talked about how lenient we are or UV rays which relate or imply tanning. This in turn made it difficult to prove my question.



Hobday, Richard. The Healing Sun. 1st ed. Findhorn: Findhorn Press, 1999. Print.

Second Multimedia Review

In the video that was shown on the CBS Morning Show, Dr. Jennifer Ashton tells us that “Using tanning beds and booths before the age of 30 increases our risk by 75 percent.” She also reports that researchers have raised the use of tanning beds to the top of the cancer causing list saying that it can be as deadly as arsenic. Maryann Post was interviewed on the morning show, she tells us that she is a two time melanoma survivor and it was mainly because of her addiction to tanning. We are informed that Texas has passed a law saying that if you are not at least sixteen and a half you are not permitted to use a tanning bed. And once again we are told there is no such thing as a safe tan.
I personally think that this video is a little extreme with what it is saying. I am sure that there are facts out there that say it is definitely dangerous but statistics are not fully proven or shown in this video. And the fact that Maryann has had melanoma twice does not mean that everyone will get it. Sure your risk will increase but there is no guarantee. I think this could have been made just to scare young people away from the use of tanning beds and decrease skin cancer risks.

Fourth Critical Review

According to the article, we think tanning is simply, “Darkening of the skin’s tone as an effect of the exposure of ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun or a sun bed. The skin produces a darker pigment when exposed to these elements therefore producing the slightly toasty or brown color of a tan. Most people believe in the popular misconception of a “healthy tan.” However, the article goes on to say that there is no such thing as a healthy tan, but that the darkening of the skin is yet a way for our body to protect ourselves from more damage by ultraviolet radiation. There are two types of tanning equipment tanning beds and tanning booths, both are considered harmful it is just that one is in a different position than the other. While only the bad side of tanning beds are talked about and broadcasted there are some good sides to tanning beds such as, tanning beds control exposure time and has a set ratio to UVA and UVB light that is given out while tanning, it also benefits your body and the production of Vitamin D. Tanning beds of course have the negative side that we hear about with skin cancer as well.
I was personally surprised when I read this article to find that it had something positive to say about tanning beds and tanning booths. Seeing this makes me wonder why we do not hear about the good side but yet we hear about the negative all the time. I honestly did not know anything about when you body turns darker it is actually protecting itself from father damage, but at the same time I wonder if it is protecting itself, why do we still end up with skin cancer?


"Tanning Beds and Your Health." Tanning Beds and Your Health. All Tanning Beds, 2008. Web. 12 Apr 2010. .

First Multimedia Review

In this video, it is reported that cosmetic and tanning salon companies believe that tanning in tanning beds causes skin cancer. It has been broadcasted that skin cancer is all a hype when it comes to tanning indoors, However, Emily, a young woman who was interviewed, says that it is not a hype because she is recovering from melanoma that was initially caused by going to the tanning bed at the age of nineteen for on average four times a week. David Leffell, a Yale medical student says that “The ad misrepresents the scientific facts that UVA lights from both the sun and the tanning beds cause skin cancer.”
I believe that this video is very contradicting in the way it presents the hype, no hype situation of tanning beds. It says at one point that tanning is healthy but then turns around and says by the way it causes cancer. This video is semi hard to follow because I am not sure that I fully understand both sides of the video because of the factual or non factual information given in the video.