Smoking versus Tanning?

Question

Why is there a huge campaign to stop smoking, but not one against tanning? It's surprising how there are no commercials advising that tanning causes cancer. You can tan without having to see a picture of melanoma on the tanning bed. You can go to a tanning bed at any age. People go outside without sunscreen all the time. Think about it......you can't buy cigarettes until you are 18. You cannot smoke underage. People go to great lengths to avoid second hand smoke. I know many women who don't smoke and claim to be healthy.....yet they are so tanned they look like shoe leather. Why is smoking so reviled, yet tanning is still considered beautiful? The risk of cancer is present with both habits, and melanoma is just as terrible as lung cancer. They are thinking of giving an R rating to movies that portray smoking as glamorous.....are they also going to give R ratings to movies that portray tanned women as beautiful?

Melanoma is the fastest growing cancer in the U.S.; the cases are skyrocketing. Lung cancer has remained fairly steady. Trust me, I know. I have survived melanoma and also work as a molecular biologist doing cancer research. So to suggest that lung cancer is still more "important" than melanoma is both misleading and naive.

enzymatique: sorry, but I had to report you. You can give your opinion (though it is wrong) without being sophomoric and insulting. Also, I have given my credentials....what are yours?

Tarkarri, recheck your facts, dear. I know from personal experience as a melanoma survivor that it is one of the most difficult cancers to treat once it has progressed.

Answer 1

i know what you mean. it's all too ridiculous! as long as there's money to be made, there will always be people and companies who will want to capitalize on it, good or bad is not even in the equation.

Answer 2

The media has a lot to anser for with this.

Magazines portray tanned as healthy and beautiful.

The other factor would be the relative death rates.

In Australia, about 10% of cancers diagnosed are melanoma, and about 9% are lung cancer.

Of these, after 5 years about 98% of melanoma patients will have survived. Only 25% of lung cancer patients will have survived!

Answer 3

I understand your comment and point of view. Working in the oncology field I see it all the time. To me there are a lot of things that all of us do on a daily basis that doesn't make a lot of sense, yet we still all do it.

Part of the problem is that we live in a society that thrives off of the media's portrayal to the public as what is beautiful and what is not. We allow someone sitting in their cubicle writing an article for a magazine to dictate to us what is glamorous, what is beautiful, and what is attractive. Most of us allow others to dictate to us through peer pressure and other such things as to what we define as bautiful.

It is very difficult for most people to stand on their own two feet and make their own decisions, let alone trying to define what is and isn't beautiful, especially if it means selecting the minority versus the majority of the popular decision. Most people want to be accepted and want to fit in, and then that leads to following what everyone else is doing.

However, there is still a medical fact that holds true: Lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer deaths in the US. It is still the most preventable cancer to date, and smoking would have the largest impact on this disease. It makes sense to target something that can make the largest impact by changing our habits slightly.

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