Fake and Bake Research
As anyone who’s walked along Comm. Ave. can attest, BU students love tanning salons. Male and female students alike have that orange glow even during the coldest winter months.
So, it’s not too surprising to hear that a researcher at Boston University did a study on the benefits of tanning. But the Daily Free Press reports that the scientist was taking funds for the study from a tanning industry group.
BU Medical Campus researcher Michael Holick recommended “sensible sun exposure” and the moderate use of tanning beds as ways to combat vitamin D deficiency, in the study published July 19, 2007 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The Wall Street Journal and medical publication The Cancer Letter revealed the connection between the UV Foundation and the tanning bed industry Friday. The group receives donations from the Indoor Tanning Association and tanning bed companies including Future Industries and Executive Tans[.]
It’s the second time in less than a month that BU has come under fire for accepting funds from groups that have an interest in the results of its research. Philip Morris gave nearly $4 million to the school for studies on tobacco-related diseases.
The revelation is also more bad news for the New England Journal of Medicine. The tanning bed study is the latest work to appear in the Journal that doesn’t divulge the potential conflict of interest behind the financing of the study.
Perhaps it might be wise to trade the time on the tanning bed for some time in an ethics class.
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
This “research” makes me so mad I cannot even stand it. I saw a commercial the other day for this saying how you could eat like 8 million sardines to get the vitamin D of 5 minutes in the tanning bed. Wonder how many of these researchers have watched someone they love deal with the fear and the scars associated with skin cancer and pre-cancerous lesions.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
It amazes me when I see halfazzed reporting like this by someone that is supposed to be a professional. If you had bothered to read the article written by Dr. Holick, you would know that the research wasn’t about tanning, it was about vitamin D. There were a couple of lines in the multipage report that said a tanning bed could be a source of UVB radiation. Skin exposed to UVB produces vitamin D.
Do you think a $50,000 a year grant for 3 years that is part of a $3 million dollar a year budget will really cause Dr. Holick to misrepresent what his research shows?
The grant from the UV Foundation was disclosed. The article that “broke” this story claims Dr. Holick should have gone a step farther to tell that the UV Foundation is funded by the tanning bed industry. If the money had come from The Skin Cancer Foundation, would it be a requirement to disclose they are a group funded solely by companies that market SPF lotions and cosmetics?
This is much ado about nothing. If you are looking for news, keep looking. Nothing to see here.