WINONA, Minn., July 26, 2001 -- Despite alarming data about the cancer risk, college students remain primary sources of income for Winona tanning salons. Fifty to 65 percent of the clients during peak tanning seasons are college students, said Sandy Wineski at GQ Hairstyling & Tanning, 1455 Service Drive. Said Laurie Fort, manager at Electric Beach, 523 Huff St.: "There are just gobs coming through here each day." Worries about the risk haven't gone unnoticed at the salons. Electric Beach has cancelled its unlimited tanning monthly package because too many customers were abusing themselves, Fort said. It is not good to tan more than three times per week, she said. Electric Beach still offers a package of 15 tans per month. At Winona State, campus health chief Diane Palm said it's a myth that tanning beds are safer than direct sunlight: "Tanning facilities claim to be safer because ultraviolet B rays, those commonly thought to be the most cancer-causing, are diminished in the beds. However, new studies show ultraviolet A rays, prevalent in tanning facilities, may be just as dangerous because they go deeper." Wineski of GQ disagrees: "Tanning beds are definitely safer, at least to a point. Of course you can overdo anything." Fort agrees with Wineski. "In my opinion, tanning beds are much safer because you can control the amount of time spent in one, and your exposure rate," she said. "The ozone is just too wrecked to trust the outdoors." Even so, a strong link exists between sun overexposure and one of the most deadly forms of skin cancer, Palm said. Nearly 10,000 lives are lost each year to the disease.