# Tanning privates

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tanning-privates/331847>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [November 19, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tanning-privates/331847 "2005-11-19T22:20:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![flex727](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@flex727](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flex727)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tanning-privates/331847/1 "2005-11-19T22:20:49Z")

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Regarding Cecil’s column, [Will tanning your privates in a salon cause radiation damage?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_424.html), surely Cecil must know that ultraviolet radiation _ **is** _ ionizing radiation.

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tanning-privates/331847/2 "2005-11-20T00:44:44Z")

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According to [this](http://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q2111.html) , it seems to be in between ionising and non-ionising.

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**Author:** ![Tevildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Tevildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tevildo)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tanning-privates/331847/3 "2005-11-20T01:28:34Z")

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Ice Wolf’s reference is good. I would also make the point that the “mid-vacuum” ultraviolet, the type that the article describes, is radiation of a _far_ shorter wavelength than anything you’d get from a sunbed, or the Sun itself.