A round of applause for Refinery29! We were awarded the Skin Cancer Foundation’s Media Impact Award at its Champions for Change gala on May 15.
We took home the honor for our advocacy work to ban teen tanning bed use and promote sun safety via our Sun Blocked series. In addition, we have 8,000 signatures on our petition with the Skin Cancer Foundation to mobilize the Food and Drug Administration to finalize its proposed rule that bans minors from using sunbeds. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States but it’s also one of the most preventable types of cancer. The reality is that just one tanning bed session before the age of 35 can increase your chances of developing melanoma by 75%.
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Refinery29 is the second ever publisher to receive the Media Impact Award from the Skin Cancer Foundation.
Refinery29’s Senior Director of Editorial Carli Whitwell accepted the award on behalf of the global R29 beauty team. “This initiative builds on Refinery29’s legacy work of advocacy journalism,” she told the audience at the gala, which was held at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York. “I’m so grateful to Deputy Beauty Director Jacqueline Kilikita for leading the charge and Beauty Director Sara Tan for being there every step of the way.”
Currently, 44 states and the District of Columbia ban or regulate indoor tanning devices for those who are age 18 and under. The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends that everyone, especially minors, avoid tanning beds altogether. “It’s a proven human carcinogen,” Dr. Elizabeth Hale, senior-vice president at the Skin Cancer Foundation, previously told Refinery29.
We are working on a similar petition in the UK to ban sunbeds full stop and are continuing to publish articles regularly, such as The Vitamin D Myth Discouraging Black People From Wearing Sunscreen and a guest editor’s letter from actor, activist and skin cancer survivor Michelle Monaghan.
Please sign our petition.