In a study by Fangchao Ma, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and colleagues, 369 Florida high school students were surveyed about skin cancer and sun protection. White Hispanic students and white non-Hispanic students were compared on their answers. Among the startling findings, it appears that white Hispanic students were roughly twice as likely to never or seldom apply sunscreen; 2.5 times as likely to use a tanning bed last year; and less likely to believe their skin cancer risk was average or above average. The researchers concluded that white Hispanic students must be included in skin cancer prevention programs.

This study brings up some interesting things: First, regardless of skin type, everyone wants to be tan, tanner, and tannest. Whether your skin's pastiness glows in the dark or naturally has a golden hue, the tanner you are, the hotter you are, at least according to today's standards. Nowadays, twelve year old girls are taking in a tanning session, or five. As the study points out, some teens simply have no idea that tanning can lead to skin cancer. And others simply may not care.

Take the example of a fifteen year old girl who is well aware of skin cancer and admits that she may be in danger: "I think it might happen to me the way I tan," says Caroline Greer, a CBS article reports. She plans on visiting her tanning salon the next day...a very routine visit.

Another teen, who didn't tan religiously, had scorched her skin on only two occasions, reports Newsweek. At twenty five years old, Charlie Guild died eight months after her melanoma diagnosis. Her mother, Valerie Guild, is president of the Charlie Guild Melanoma Foundation (charlie.org), an organization that advocates skin cancer prevention and sun safety.

Overall there is an insidious underlying message: Go as far as altering your body's natural skin color - with the realistic danger of skin cancer - for what is currently popular. Of course there's nothing wrong with the idea of looking like you spent a month in a tropical paradise, but it is when we're willing to risk our health - by way of light bulbs in claustrophobic cocoons or spending hours outdoors - to mimic a healthy glowing look (quite ironic, since this healthy glow produces the exact opposite: an unhealthy sunburn and deadly skin cancer). Some teens are willing to go to great lengths to adhere to a trendy look by ignoring warning signs and changing their skin cells for the latest beauty standard.

In an editorial that accompanied the survey study, Ann F. Haas, M.D., of the National Coalition for Sun Safety in Sacramento, California, says that educational programs are talking about appearance too: "the current strategy consists of providing acceptable, healthy alternatives to tanning (highlighting the positive features of the alternatives), emphasizing the negative appearance aspects of tanning and working to change the social norms regarding the 'tanned-is-healthy-and-attractive' message." Thus, these educational programs are incredibly important, and it's reassuring to know that they are being implemented. But with sunburn-linked malignant melanoma the top cancer killer of 25 to 30 year old women, how do we reach the adults?