The information is out there, but young people, for whatever reason, feel they are indestructible. What might be more effective, he says, is to center the message around future appearance vs. future disease. We generally agree with what they're trying to promote. We don't agree with the way they're going about it. For one thing, he says, tobacco kills a high proportion of those who use it.
Tanning is a natural body function.
Processing tobacco is something the body was never designed to do. Levy's opinion, as outlined in documentation from the International Smart Tan Network, is that the dermatology community has taken the anti-sun message too far, in that they're advocating something unhealthy. He says humans need ultraviolet light, and the risk for serious problems from moderate tanning is probably low. In fact, Levy says tanning beds first came into use as a therapeutic tool in Europe, and at least a million people in the U.S. still use them that way, for relief of psoriasis. Others find the exposure to light eases seasonal affective disorder, a form of depression that is related to darkness, he says.