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June 06, 2012

Loyola Physician Available to Comment on Tanning Ban for Kids in Chicago

City Council votes to ban tanning booths for Chicago minors

 
WHAT: The City Council voted today to ban minors from using tanning beds in Chicago. Loyola University Health System’s Division Director of Dermatology Rebecca Tung, MD, FAAD, endorses this move and is available to comment on the protective benefits this will have for kids and teens.

“The rates of melanoma and other forms of skin cancer continue to rise in the United States in part due to the indoor tanning industry,” Dr. Tung said. “I applaud the City Council for opposing indoor tanning and for taking a step forward toward protecting children from harmful ultraviolet radiation."

About 30 million Americans visit tanning salons each year despite the risk for wrinkles and the dangers of ultraviolet radiation. Ultraviolet radiation causes approximately 90 percent of skin cancers, and the risk for melanoma increases by 75 percent if you tan indoors before age 35.

MEDIA:     To interview Dr. Tung, call Nora Plunkett in Loyola Media Relations, (708) 417-5014.

Loyola University Health System (LUHS) is a member of Trinity Health. Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, LUHS is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and more than 30 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 569-licensed-bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb campus in Melrose Park includes the 255-licensed-bed community hospital, the Professional Office Building housing 150 private practice clinics, the Adult Day Care, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness, Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery and Bariatric Care and the Loyola Cancer Care & Research at the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Center at Melrose Park.

MEDIA RELATIONS

Nora Plunkett

Media Relations

(708) 216-6268

nplunkett@lumc.edu
Anne Dillon

Media Relations

(708) 216-8232

adillon@lumc.edu