Northwest Iowa — Along with getting formal attire, flowers, dinner reservations, and a limo, some northwest Iowa high schoolers also book a tanning bed to prepare for prom. Leslie Van Bogart, who grew up in Iowa says tanning caused her skin cancer.
Many states bar people under 18 from using tanning beds. Iowa is among fewer than a half-dozen remaining states that have yet to impose tighter restrictions on U-V tanning beds, which she says are completely banned in some states.
Being a skin cancer survivor, Van Bogart now runs a spray-tan business called Your Tanning Bar. She says it’s by far the safest alternative for having healthier-looking, darker skin.
She says spray tans often last seven to ten days. Van Bogart says she hopes teens take her message to heart.
Cancer is Iowa’s leading cause of death with more than 17-thousand-400 Iowans diagnosed every year. Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers. Melanoma, a more dangerous type of skin cancer, accounts for almost 10,000 skin cancer deaths nationwide each year.
