Tanning beds at MU rec complex draw criticism from university doctors
By JACKIE WHIPPLE
news@columbiamissourian.com
Megan Chronister began going to tanning salons when she was 14, more out of curiosity than anything else. By the time she arrived in high school, however, she and her friends felt they looked better with tanned skin. Several times a week, they’d bake under the ultraviolet lights to acquire a golden hue.
“It’s nice to have a glow,” said Chronister, an MU senior in strategic communications at the School of Journalism. “It helps your self-confidence.”
When she arrived in Columbia, Chronister collected Ad Sheet coupons so she could tan at a discounted rate. But once The Spa, a facility operated by Tan Time LLC, opened in January 2007 at the MU Student Recreation Complex, Chronister began using its sun beds exclusively. With prices around $9 to $35 for walk-in tanning bed use, $40 for 100 tanning credits and $25 for a single spray-tan session, Chronister finds the convenience worth the cost.
“I love having it there,” Chronister said. “And I can student charge it.”
Almost immediately, however, the decision to let a private vendor provide tanning services at The Spa raised objections from university dermatologists. In the same month The Spa opened, Karen Edison, the chair for the MU department of dermatology, sent an e-mail about her objections to Chancellor Brady Deaton.
“It is well known that unprotected ultraviolet light exposure is the leading risk factor in the development of skin cancer and premature aging,” Edison wrote. “Contrary to the popular misconception that tanning beds are ‘safer’ than natural sunlight, studies have shown that tanning beds emit dangerous levels of UV rays and are considered to be a serious health risk. This includes both UVB and UVA light sources.”
Edison declined comment for this story, but in her e-mail to Deaton, she noted that the federal government in 2002 added UV radiation “from the sun or artificial light sources such as tanning beds and sun lamps” to its list of known carcinogens.
“For a University with a strong Dermatology Department and a burgeoning Public Health program, it seems to me that this is not putting our best foot forward,” her e-mail reads. “I am seriously concerned about supporting an activity for our students that is known to cause cancer.”
The debate about the propriety of locating the tanning salon on campus is ongoing and has raised questions about the status of MU’s contract with Tan Time LLC for the tanning beds and spray-on tanning systems it markets at the MU rec complex.
Terry Wilson of Columbia, the owner of Wilson’s Total Fitness, and Tan Time partner Randy Dawson pay MU $40,000 a year to operate in the MU rec complex.
The Missourian filed a Sunshine Request in January for any documents related to the contract between the university and Tan Time LLC aside from the original contract itself.
“I am aware of the existence of other documents related to Tan Time LLC’s relationship with the University,” wrote David Russell, the University of Missouri System’s custodian of records. He added, however, that these documents were “protected from disclosure” under an exemption in the state Open Meetings and Records Law that relates to “legal actions, causes of action or litigation.”
The contract between MU and Tan Time includes renewals every two years and extends through 2016. The agreement includes a provision that allows MU to unilaterally cancel the agreement “in its best interest” with 30 days written notice.
Dawson, who’s been involved in the fitness industry and lives in Edwardsville, Ill., said he had heard that some people in the dermatology department were unhappy with his company providing artificial sunlight for students, but that none of the MU dermatologists have contacted him.
“If there were issues, people knew this was happening prior to our bid,” Dawson said. “Why would this be brought up after the fact when someone already has an investment?”
Repeated efforts to contact Wilson were unsuccessful.
Deaton’s office referred inquiries about the on-campus tanning business to Cathy Scroggs, MU vice chancellor for student affairs. Both Scroggs and Jeff Zeilenga, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, said they don’t comment on contracts.
Critics of providing tanning services on campus say it runs against MU’s responsibility of promoting a healthy environment for its more than 28,000 students and 12,000 full-time employees.
Yve Solbrekken, a doctoral graduate in physics, said that because the MU administration and MU student groups work to promote healthy behavior, it seems counterproductive to include tanning services in the MU rec complex.
“I do not think that Mizzou should promote or profit from a business that sells a product that harms students’ health,” Solbrekken said. “By placing such a business, in this case a tanning facility, right on campus — in fact, in the rec center where many healthful services are provided — it is an endorsement of this product.”
Michael Swann, chief resident in the department of dermatology when the tanning service opened, compared it to installing cigarette machines.
“The obvious association between cancer and ultraviolet light in a health facility is like setting them up to be hooked,” said Swann, who has since left MU. “I’m not against a spa, but I am against causing skin cancer.”
In January 2007, Solbrekken expressed her concerns in an e-mail to Diane Dahlmann, director of MizzouRec Services and Facilities. Dahlmann’s reply was that students themselves asked for The Spa in a survey done before remodeling and expansion of the rec complex. The survey, conducted by a marketing class during the spring 2004 semester, found that students wanted services such as tanning and massages, Dahlmann said. Adding these services were discussed with the Missouri Students Association, the Rec Advisory Committee and the Office of Student Affairs between 2001 and 2006, she said.
MU awarded the contract to Tan Time after it submitted a bid in response to a request for proposals. Dawson said owners of the business have invested several hundred thousand dollars “in good faith” to provide a convenient service.
Dahlmann declined comment on the health issues raised by dermatologists, saying that she is not a health professional.
“The Spa and spa services in recreation facilities, health clubs and resorts are part of the new and growing package of amenities,” Dahlmann said in discussing a national trend of combining fitness and tanning under one roof.
In her reply to Solbrekken’s 2007 e-mail, Dahlmann wrote that there are many individuals in the MU community who appreciate the types of services available at The Spa. In a subsequent interview, Dahlmann said that having choices is an important part of student development.
The contract between MU and Tan Time includes a section requiring a commitment to education on sun safety, displays and materials. There are warnings of the risks of ultraviolet light exposure, including possible skin damage and cancer, as well as a requirement to wear protective eyewear, in picture frames on the counter at The Spa. Each new customer must fill out and sign a data sheet, which includes providing information such as medications taken, evaluation of skin type, tanning regulations and a warning that “repeated exposure to the tanning process might cause skin cancer or premature aging to the skin or both.”
In the balance of providing students with services they want while maintaining a safe learning environment, it is still unclear how the future relationship between MU and The Spa will unfold.
“It is important that major universities continue to take a stand with respect to such issues and explain why they have taken that stand, because they are uniquely qualified to present the research behind what they say,” Solbrekken said. “Our tax dollars demand that the university continue to educate and inform us, particularly on issues where there is much misinformation out there and the university has the facts.”
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