Despite recent research about the hazards of visiting tanning beds, tanning bed organizations as well as a local tanning salon owner refute the study.

The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, linked women who frequent tanning beds to skin cancer.

The research, which tested more than 100,000 Scandinavians over an eight- year period, reports that women who visit tanning beds more than once a month have a 55 percent greater chance of developing malignant melanoma — a deadly form of skin cancer — than women who have never visited a tanning bed.

The study said the risk of artificial tanning leading to malignant melanoma is 150 percent greater for women between the ages of 20 and 29.

However, the Indoor Tanning Association (ITA) found the Scandinavian study’s results incomparable to America, according to its Web site, (www.theita.com).

The Web site said there are no regulations in Scandinavian countries like in the United States; therefore, the results from tanning cannot be compared.

The ITA also reported that the United States Food and Drug Administration Center for Devices and Radiological Health, which regulates and conducts research on indoor tanning, said there is no conclusive evidence that connects indoor tanning with skin cancer and melonoma.

Several tanning organizations have circulated a petition after The Associated Press published an article about the study, said Frankie Burrell, owner of the six locations of Silver Sun Tan in Athens and an ITA member.

The petition is targeted at The Associated Press and endorses a “demand for fair and unbiased reporting.”

The petition says The Associated Press article has two purposes — one to be a “sensational read for the news source to chalk up as a ‘winner’” and the other to promote the agenda of the “sun scare” for advertisers selling sunscreen.

“I’ve been in this business for 16 years, and it just upsets me,” Burrell said.

She said her tanning salons monitor customers to ensure the regulation of ultraviolet rays and requires customers to wear eyewear.

Despite the conflicting research, some University students said having a bronze finish is better than a porcelain one.

“(I) know there’s a risk,” said Katy Carver, a sophomore from Springdale, Ark. “But I guess I would just rather be tan.”

Anne Marie Castigliola, a sophomore from Pascagoula, Miss., said she thinks her chances are slim of developing malignant melanoma because she only tans about once a week.

Castigliola and Carver are both sorority sisters in Alpha Chi Omega, and they said there aren’t many people they know who don’t visit a tanning bed.

During their tanning visit Monday, Castigliola said she saw at least six names from her sorority on the sign-in list at Sunshine Tan on Baxter Street.

Being tan “makes you feel better about yourself,” Carver said.

Although Castigliola said she has done research about the risks of tanning, she said she thinks “(about) now and not in the future,” so she will keep tanning because it fits her immediate needs.

Peggy Brickman, an assistant professor in plant biology, said she tries to tell her students to stay away from tanning beds.

Tanning beds use ultraviolet light, she said, which mutates the DNA, which in turn could cause malignant melanoma.

Brickman calls herself an “obsessive skin-coverer,” and said she always wears a hat, sunscreen and a sun shirt, which is made of fabric tightly woven to provide protection from the sun.

Brickman suggested specific warnings should be required on tanning beds. “Maybe (they) need a warning … Warning: you might get melanoma.”

– Contributing: The Associated Press