6 months ago
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (WUSA) --- Don't tell Dr. Elizabeth Tanzi that tanning beds don't cause serious health hazards.
Dr. Tanzi is a dermatologist with the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery, however, even she admits that she's had her share of risks in the sun.
"I wasn't always a dermatologist, in my youth, I visited some tanning salons, " she says.
Today, Dr. Tanzi is also as a skin cancer survivor.
She says, "I happen(ed) to notice it on my leg, a mole that I had for a while. I noticed it may be changing, and it turned out to be melanoma."
A hearing held by the Food and Drug Administration Thurday recommended a need for stricter guidelines in the tanning bed industry.
The recommendations have yet to outline the exact restrictions, but testimony from politicians, health experts, skin cancer associations and survivors has helped to convince the FDA panel for the need of greater control.
At the very least, the FDA is expected to clarify the warning labels on tanning beds. Currently, most tanning bed labels include a paragraph that says, "...repeated exposure may cause premature aging and skin cancer."
The new labels would be a stark warning about the cancer danger.
Joe Levy represents the Smart Tan Network, one of the many companies fighting back.
Levy says, "Indoor tanning is a surrogate for what nature intended and our job is to do that in as responsible a way as possible to minimize the risk."
However, Dr. David Fisher believes there is no way to safely do what Levy and others in the tanning industry are suggesting. He told the FDA about his research on Ultra Violet radiation.
Dr. Fisher explains, "So UV causes damage to DNA and (the) tanning response is a stress response to that damage. There is no (such) thing as safe tan because if there is a tan, that means there is a damage to DNA and that damage to DNA can cause cancer."
Melanoma survivor and activist, Amy Waldrop, was also in attendance at Thursday's hearings. She wants to send a message to young women that any tanning bed use is unsafe.
Amy considers her total exposure relatively low.
"I would say I used tanning beds 50 times. My melanoma was dead center on my back, right where my back would hit the tanning bed. I don't really think that's a coincidence."
Dr. Tanzi agrees. She tells her patients that even after surviving melanoma, she will always be a skin cancer patient.
"I get full skin exams every six months. I've had 28 biopsies since then. It's really a lifetime issue for me and anyone whose had a melanoma."
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