(Newser)
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Some 32% of white women aged 18 to 21 have hit the tanning salon at least once in the past year, according to the first major federal study in more than 10 years. On average, members of the group tan 28 times per year. The study also found that 30% of white women aged 22 to 25 go indoor tanning. Meanwhile, about half of 18- to 29-year-olds have gotten at least one sunburn in the past year, USA Today reports.
"We think this a public health epidemic in the making," says a director of the CDC, which conducted the survey alongside the National Cancer Institute. "Right now it's the seventh most common cancer in women and if we don't do something, it could go much higher." Salons are taking action—at least where one "tanorexic" is concerned. Tanning mom Patricia Krentcil has been barred from 63 salons near her home, the New York Post reports. "We don't tan people like that," says a manager. Click through for more from the federal study.
