This month is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. 1 in 5 people in the U.S. will develop skin cancer which works out to be roughly 3,000,000 cases yearly and 10,000 deaths. 10,000 deaths that could be prevented with a little bit of Banana Boat. The Skin Cancer Foundation's goal this month is to get 10,000 people to sign a letter to the Surgeon General to get the FDA to put stricter regulations on tanning beds. The letter states:
"The research cited by the IARC includes studies showing that first exposure to tanning beds in youth increases melanoma risk by 75 percent. In addition, people who use tanning beds are 2.5 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma and 1.5 times more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma. An estimated 700,000 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common form of skin cancer, are diagnosed each year,resulting in approximately 2,500 deaths. Basal cell carcinomas, the most common form of skin cancer, are rarely fatal, but can be highly disfiguring."
Skin Cancer is the most common but also the most dismissed. Don't let it be pushed under the rug anymore. I have signed the petition. Will you?
http://www.skincancer.org/Advocacy/
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