False information published in AP article, "Tanning Salons Linked to Cancer Risk"

In the face of new data that shows its dacades-long "Stay out of the Sun" campaign is actually harming the health of citizens, the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) has engaged in a "Scorched Earth" policy; let the Devil bemoan the fallout.

(PRWEB) October 19, 2003 --The report (Tanning Salons Linked to Cancer Risk") that was distributed earlier this week to national print and broadcast outlets was born of woefully incorrect, false and purposefully misleading information submitted to the Associated Press from the American Academy of Dermatology.

Here are the facts as were revealed at the recent NIH Conference, held on October 8th and 9th, entitled: Vitamin D and Health in the 21st Century -- Bone and Beyond":

- Vitamin D is a key prohormon required to combat rickets, most internal cancers, diabetes and MS

- Over 80% of Americans are today Vitamin D deficient

- Since 1975, rickets cases have increased dramatically

- Vitamin D cannot be generated sufficiently without exposure to sunlight, either natural or artificial

- Sunscreen blocks UV-B, which then inhibits Vitamin D generation

- 1.3 million internal (breast, colon, stomach) cancer cases per year are attributed to Vitamin D deficiency

- Over 50,000 cases of diabetes and MS are attributed to Vitamin D deficiency

- Of the est. 7,800 melanoma cases each year, better than 95% are completely cured

- Given the choice, people overwhelmingly would rather deal with skin cancer versus the internal varieties

- Internal cancers pull nearly 97 billion dollars (and increasing) per year out of the US economy through Medicare

The unofficial consensus among the renowned biochemists and molecular biologists presenting their scientific papers at the NIH conference was that the Vitamin D deficiency epidemic in the United States is probably due to dermatologists' warnings that has kept children and young adults indoors or covered by sun block for nearly a generation. As dermatologists have little or no background in biochemistry, one must surmise that the AAD was unable or perhaps unwilling to understand the science supporting exposure to sunlight, a primary aspect of nature that mankind has been living with for over 300,000 years.

Background

In June of this year, Dr. James M. Spencer and colleagues of the AAD met with members of the Food and Drug Administrations Office of Science and Technology (FDA/OST), the department responsible for governing regulatory polices relating to radiation-emitting devices, including tanning equipment and individual sunlamps.    When a complete ban on indoor tanning was demanded by Dr. Spencer, Senior Research Biophysicist at FDA/OST, Dr. Howard Cyr, reiterated his insistence that there was no definitive link between sunlight or tanning beds and malignant melanoma. At best, there could be an argument made that UV-A might be a catalyst for common Basal and Squamous cell skin cancers, but nothing specifically indicting sunbeds as a causal factor could be found. One of the chief studies supporting this is the Australian 2002 Sturm, et. al" paper that positively connected melanoma to a genetic mutation, which explained why melanoma lesions appeared on areas of the body never exposed to sunlight. The AAD has chosen to ignore such studies.

Dr. Cyr has also taken issue with the Swedish study submitted to the AP as being an outdated, extrapolative survey, conducted in a country where the vastly predominant skin type is I" (no melanin, and therefore wont tan), and Vitamin D is generated only 3 months of the year. Virtually every Swede and Norwegian is Vitamin D deficient during the remaining 9 months. Additionally, adult women from those countries drink alcohol and smoke much more than their American counterparts; both have strong, definitive links to melanoma. Using Scandinavians in such research, therefore, would be like comparing the skin reactions of nocturnal mice to those of humans.

The Inherent Danger of False Information

In a nutshell, the AAD launched this new campaign, using the AP as a veritable Sword of Damocles", in an effort to obfuscate the truth, deflect blame away from itself, and harm the producers of tanning equipment and lamps. One can only surmise that, after the contrarian revelations of the recent NIH -- Vitamin D Conference were made public (and with his back to the wall), Dr. Spencer decided to engage in a scorched earth policy; let the devil bemoan the fallout.

This kind of academic skullduggery is the same sort that pegged Saccharin as being a carcinogen for 20 years, until it was discovered that the original study listing it as such was seriously flawed, forcing the government to take it off the list of cancer causing agents in 2001. But by then, the damage to the economy, as well as the livelihoods of 10,000 Americans employed in the artificial sweetener industry, had already been done. What happened to the researcher who published the false study? He retired, conveniently, in 2000.

In view of data emanating from such organizations as NIH, FDA and Penn State / Purdue Universities, the AAD felt compelled to stick its collective head in the sand and promulgate an overwhelmingly potent media blitz to bolster a misguided mantra. Once this information has made it to the trial lawyers, the organization may find itself the subject of a massive class action lawsuit, naming it as the cause of, among other things, the rickets and diabetes being suffered by thousands of young people today.

Academic Sources:

Dr. Margherita T. Cantorna, PhD -- Pennsylvania State University

Drs. Mona S. Calvo and C.N. Barton, PhDs - FDA / CFSAN

Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes -- Tufts University

Dr. Hector F. DeLuca, PhD -- University of Wisconsin at Madison

Dr. James Fleet, PhD -- Purdue University

Dr. Robert P. Heaney, MD -- Creighton University

Dr. Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD -- Boston University

Dr. Kelly S. Scanlon, PhD, RD -- Centers for Disease Control

Dr. William B. Grant, PhD -- NASA Langley Research Center (Independant Research)

Dr. Gerald F. Combs, Jr., PhD -- USA / ARS Human Nutrition Center
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This information submitted by Robert T. Wagner, President / CEO, Medical Device Listing Consultants, a Division of AEGIS, Inc., Saint Petersburg, FL (727) 471-0173