Can Indoor Tanning Prevent Cancer? ....Cheers to Robbie Segler

[ArubaTanTX]

Someone who is truly fighting for our industry. Doing a great job!

Can Indoor Tanning Prevent Cancer? - Houston News Story - KPRC Houston

HOUSTON -- Note: The following story is a verbatim transcript of an Investigators story that aired on Tuesday, July 22, 2008, on KPRC Local 2 at 10 p.m.

Local 2 Investigates claims that indoor tanning can help prevent cancer. You've probably seen the billboards and commercials advising you to "get your fix of vitamin D."

The Texas Department of State Health Services has seen them, too, and it said the ads might be illegal. Investigative reporter Amy Davis reveals the truth behind the health claims that could have the Houston company in hot water.
On a visit to Memorial Park, we took a very unscientific poll, asking people what comes to mind when they hear the words "tanning bed."

"I think of cancer," said a woman named Julie, almost instantly.

"Uh, that you're going to get cancer," said Claire Martin, as if the answer were obvious.

Another woman told us the words made her think "wrinkles."

The negative connotations of tanning beds are fairly universal, but the owner of Darque Tan, one of the largest tanning salon chains in the country, wants you to think something else.

"You want to change it so that when people think tanning beds, they think what?" Davis asked Robbie Segler, the owner of Darque Tan.

"Vitamin D," answered Segler.

References to vitamin D have become a part of every Darque Tan commercial and billboard.

And when you hear what we found with our hidden cameras, it seems it's also part of the sales pitch.

One Darque Tan employee at the store on the corner of Richmond and Chimney Rock told a KPRC intern wearing a hidden camera, "People that have high levels of vitamin D, they sometimes, you know, are not as likely to get cancer."

Studies show vitamin D, found in milk and UV rays among other sources, reduces your risk of internal cancers.

So Robbie Segler said tanning beds that also emit UV rays can also help prevent cancer."

If you're deficient in vitamin D, you are now doubling your chances of dying from cancer, heart disease and auto immune disease," said Segler.

"I simply think this is all about making money for the tanning industry and that's the bottom line here," countered Dr. Adelaide Hebert, a dermatologist with the University of Texas.

Local 2 Investigates learned the claims could actually cost Darque Tan because the Texas Department of State Health Services contends the ads and the comments we caught on hidden camera are a violation of the Texas Health Code.

Chapter 145 of the code reads, "A tanning facility operator may not claim or distribute promotional materials that claim that using a tanning device is safe or free from risk or that using a tanning device will result in medical health benefits."

We obtained a warning letter the state sent to a San Antonio Darque Tan in April after the state says the facility gave out promotional cards that displayed the health claim "vitamin D."

But when Davis asked, Segler said his company does not make health claims."And Darque Tan is not violating the Texas Health Code?" asked Davis."Absolutely not," said Segler.

At this point, Segler had no idea that we sent interns, wired with hidden cameras, into five Houston Darque Tan stores.

At the Meyerland location, a woman behind the counter said, "Vitamin D is just healthy for your skin. Just really like about 5 minutes in a level one bed a day, if you're looking for like a vitamin D efficiency, then that's what you would need to have to get a source of vitamin D to help with the internal cancers and stuff like that."

We got the most elaborate explanation from a Darque Tan employee at the River Oaks location."A thousand people die a year from skin cancers, OK?" the man told our intern. "And 175,000 people die from internal cancers -- prostate cancers and ovarian cancers and things like that. And it's been proven in books and medicine and stuff like that that vitamin D, however you get it, helps prevent those internal cancers. So would you be more worried about the skin cancer on your arm and being able to have it laser cut out or whatever like that or would you rather have ovarian cancer that you can't get rid of and you people die from?"

"Are either one of those health claims?" Davis asked Segler after showing him the clips."They are health claims, but certainly the reporter is pitching them a question about that connection," Segler said.

He claimed most customers don't ask his employees pointed questions about the vitamin D ads."If you were to solicit a health-related question, I would assume you'd get a health-related answer," Segler explained.Violating the state health code governing tanning facilities could cost Darque Tan its license.

Doug McBride of the Department of Health Services said, "penalties can be administrative, civil or criminal and may include fines not to exceed $25,000 per day per offense.

"McBride's office referred the case to the Attorney General for review."That, to me, is a basic denial of free speech," Segler said of the health code that prohibits him from talking about the link between vitamin D and his tanning beds.

He said he feels so strongly that tanning beds can save lives by decreasing the risk of internal cancers, he will take this issue "as far as the state wants to take it."

Segler says the risk of skin cancer is so slight, it's worth the decrease in risk customers might receive of getting other types of cancer."We would never in good conscious recommend that a patient go to a tanning bed," Hebert told Local 2 Investigates.

"With all due respect to the dermatologists, dermatologists know nothing about vitamin D metabolism," Segler countered.Instead, he points to recent studies that show Vitamin D is a critical tool in fighting internal cancers.

Dr. Joan Lappe conducted one study at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.When we told Lappe that Segler cited her study to promote indoor tanning, she said there aren't enough studies on tanning beds to make the safe connection between indoor tanning and vitamin D.

"There's a great big leap from going from my study to going to tanning booths are good sources of vitamin D," Lappe said.

We also checked with researchers at Harvard and Boston universities who all say it's true increased levels of vitamin D does decrease your chances of getting cancer, but none of them said they would or have ever advocated using a tanning bed to get your vitamin D.

They all recommend foods such as milk or taking supplements.The Darque Tan ads are still under review by the Attorney General's Office.

We'll let you know what, if any, action they take.Statement From Harvard University's Dr. Edward Giovannucci:"It is true that there is some evidence that higher vitamin D levels may reduce cancer risk, particularly of colorectal cancer, and possibly some other cancer types.

The data a relatively strong, but not considered definitive by everyone."A meta-analysis of randomized trials of vitamin D vs. placebo found an overall 8 percent lower total mortality in those who got vitamin D. Thus, overall, there is strong evidence that more vitamin D may have some important health benefits, perhaps even beyond cancer.

"To my knowledge, there is no direct evidence that tanning booth use is related to lower cancer risk, but if the tanning booth supply UV-B, vitamin D levels should increase in general."

I don't know what the regulations are (if any) regarding the types and amount of radiation from tanning booths. It is also important to note that if there truly is benefit to having higher vitamin D, the vitamin D could be gotten in a supplement, though probably at higher levels than are available generally in most supplements.

The potential downsides of UV radiation also need to be taken into account."

[John]

Solarmeter, have you seen an increase in sales of the 6.4 meter?

[Alan @ TanToday]

The guys got balls and a huge ban account to take this as far as the money will go. The question is, will Texas decide to make Robbie an example or give him a pass.

Hopefully cooler heads in the AG will prevail and this will get swept under the rug. If not, look for the biggest battle ever to hit the tanning industry. What would happen in this case would send shockwaves across every single state and every single salon.

When do we stop taking it in the rear and start taking it to them?

[ArubaTanTX]

He does have brass balls. I believe in his cause though. I think we have enough research on Vitamin D and Vitamin D deficiency to make positive claims about it in our salons.

I think the law should be changed to:

"A tanning facility operator may not claim or distribute promotional materials that claim that using a tanning device is safe or free from risk or that using a tanning device will result in medical health benefits...that have not been scientifically backed..etc"

We have the research and we are not making false claims, I do believe they are restricting our right to Freedom of Speech.

Finally someone is sticking up for the industry and he is making waves. I'll back him up any day.

[Alan @ TanToday]

FDA - Only doctors have the power to give medical advice or make medical claims.

Believe me, the dietary supplement industry is WAY WAY bigger then indoor tanning and they could not get them to budge on this.

I hope Texas doesn't make this an issue for Robbie. They have bankrupted many a company/person in their bogus AG lawsuits.

[BIG AL]

Alan, you sound like you have had experience with the Texas AG.

[Jim Fisher]

he will take this issue "as far as the state wants to take it."

Robbie,

You the man!
Now that is what Im talking about

[imhere]

uv light from the sun (uncontrolled and getting more intense by the days) is how different from uv light from tanning lamps?

15 min sunshine inside is how different than 15 mins sunshine outside?

quoting, displaying or distributing published material on the FACT that x amount of uv exposure allows the body to absorb x amount of vitamin d is wrong how?

quoting, displaying or distributing published material on the FACT that people in these 'test groups' showing positive results have common factors (i.e., high or low vitamin d levels) is wrong how?

i will say what i want to say, it's called freedom of speech! however, i am NOT a medical trained or science trained person, so when i quote published materials - i state my source.

not sure how your going to get me on passing along false info.

another thing, i don't see any evidence in the article that shows DT's employees said there were no risk to tanning. they simply were explaining the benefits. even though the article tried to press the point that DT employees were not even mentioning risks. just like robbie said, ask me a exact question and get an exact answer.

[Rob]

This is similar to what happened to Fabutan here in Canada. Doug McNabb , the owner of Fabutan, has helped get the tanning industy here in Canada going in the right direction. Its still not where it needs to be but he has pointed it in the right direction.

[Robbie]

My thanks to Arubatan for his well wishes and support--he is actually a very good competitor of mine near the UT campus in Austin--hi

I am not sure I am comfortable with all these references about my ‘balls’

I am not championing any cause, nor am I trying to take on the State for the right to make health claims.

I clearly understand that we are unable to make health claims. When asked to comment on that fact, philosophically I identified this as a denial of free speech, but in no way did I imply that our advertising is our means of challenging this law.

I have no desire to change this law (unlike my friend at ArubaTan).

Our advertising is designed to comply with the law.

Our advertising campaigns don’t make health claims. They are designed only to posit the idea that there is a connection between tanning (at Darque Tan) and vitamin D.

Simply, A produces B…or in this case D.

We don’t say whether A or D is good for you…just that one leads to the other…a description of the process, which our regulations requires us to disclose to customers.

We don’t promote or claim that our services will lessen disease and it is certainly never included in our sales pitch.

The news story did expose the fact that my staff could be tricked by skilled interns into making a ‘gotcha’ piece for a news station. Their knowledge of vitamin D is as it should be. Everything they said was true, but the fact that they said it was wrong, if the context were truly a sales pitch to a customer (which it wasn’t).

Our sales pitches, printed in our training materials and built into our software, are available on screen, live for employees to follow in the salons. There is nothing in any of this material about vitamin d, health benefits or cancer.

We don’t sell the $18.88 breast cancer-survival membership or the defeat-diabetes super saver

A few of our employees were duped by motivated reporters sent in to elicit health claims, and this should be a wake up call for many. It has been for me.

We now have a counter card titled HEALTH CLAIMS which basically says that regulations prohibit us from making them…Go ask your doctor about the connection between vitamin D deficiency and disease, or just google Vitamin D.

Our staff makes a point of saying we can’t make health claims. We say "that while Time magazine named vitamin D as one of the top 10 medical breakthroughs for 2007, and the New York Times dubbed it “the nutrient of the decade”, we as a tanning salon operators are unable to make health related claims…we suggest you take a copy of Real Magazine (on every bed) and ask your doctor or better yet, google vitamin D".

I recommend this course of action to all. At the same time I recommend you follow my lead and advertise your connection to vitamin D, but only in the context that your salon or your beds are a good source of D. Don’t recommend amounts, but do equate exposures to other sources of D. 10 minutes in a tanning bed equals 100 glasses of milk, 50 cans of sardines, etc.

On a positive note, this news story had a Berman-lite effect in my market…I caught a little press and got “in trouble” for making health claims…or so that was the story.

My goal over the last few years has been to make the link between Darque Tan and vitamin D inseparable. Billboard, Radio, TV, and print have all constantly been focused in this direction. I helped craft the opening of this story-

“The negative connotations of tanning beds are fairly universal, but the owner of Darque Tan, one of the largest tanning salon chains in the country, wants you to think something else.

"You want to change it so that when people think tanning beds, they think what?" Davis asked Robbie Segler, the owner of Darque Tan.

"Vitamin D," answered Segler.

References to vitamin D have become a part of every Darque Tan commercial and billboard.”

The instructive part of this episode is that this controversy fashioned some EARNED media for Darque Tan.

People will only remember something about Darque Tan getting in trouble for talking about vitamin D. Could I ask for a better method of connecting my brand to this cause?

My future advertising will thusly be coordinated with this news station and others, so that it becomes a “story”.


This is something that anyone can do locally in their market…and be their own spokesperson.


Just make sure you don’t learn my lesson the hard way and let your staff get tricked into talking about health related issues.

[Din]

Originally Posted by Robbie

My thanks to Arubatan for his well wishes and support--he is actually a very good competitor of mine near the UT campus in Austin--hi

Classic.......hahahahaha


I'm changing all my marketing for my salons to follow Fabutan's. Doug, are you on here?

Do you mind if i say "Free Vitamin D with every tan" in my advertising campaigns? Is it ©**®™?

Yes we only have 2 locations vs. your 300....but still.

Okay, time to make up some custom Vitamin-D posters for salons.