CLEVELAND -- For those searching for that endless summer tan, it sounds like a dream come true -- you can get golden brown without the harmful effects of the sun or a tanning bed.

And, it's safe -- or is it?

In this Special Assignment, NewsChannel5's Linda Passariello uncovered some alarming facts that may make your confidence fade like a summer tan.

Passariello reported many are avoiding the sun and tanning beds and opting for sunless spray tans. But, there are a few things you should know about that choice as well.

The method is about 90 seconds and offers a golden glow. Many think this option is harmless, but Passariello went undercover to get answers.

At one salon, an employee takes NewsChannel5 in and demonstrates how to stand. The employee also points out how to protect artificial nails.

The employee said: "No, there's nothing that would hurt your eyes at all. You're going to breathe it in. It's OK. There's nothing in it that's harmful."

Passariello asked if there were any other safeguards.

At another salon, they make WEWS watch a short video, giving precautions on matters such as how to protect one's lips by applying lip balm.

For the eyes, there is protective wear and for the lungs, there is a personal reusable nose filter.

Once the video ends, WEWS is taken into a booth, but the precautionary measures that were spoken about in the video were nowhere to be found.

When WEWS asked, the employee suggested the opposite.

"Eyewear and nose wear (are) optional, I wouldn't suggest it because you'll get lines," she said.

At the TNT tanning salon in Middleburg Heights, WEWS watches a video. Nose plugs are not offered, until asked.

Passariello: "What about nose plugs?"
Employee: "Oh, did you want them?"
Passariello: "I can get them for you."

No protective eyewear was offered, either.

"If you just shut your eyes the whole time, you should be fine," the employee said. "Before (salons) started offering eyewear and nose wear, it was already on the market for a while, so it's really no big deal."

Passariello reported the spray tan booths may be hot, but the idea is old.

The active ingredient in the liquid that the booths spray on the body is called dihydroxyacetone, DHA, and it was approved in 1977 to be used externally to change the color of the skin.

Dr. Linda Katz heads up the Colors and Cosmetics branch of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency that regulates the use of DHA.

"What that means is that it is used topically for the skin, excluding the mucus membranes and the lips," Katz said.

She said it's OK to carefully spread DHA on your skin, but said that's far different from what happens inside the new spray tanning booths.

Essentially what happens is consumers walk in to a booth, push a button and after about a minute the chemical solution is all over the body.

The agency never imagined, it would be applied this way, Passariello reported.

"As a topical product, yes DHA is approved. For use in sunless tanning booths as a mist, it has not been," Katz said.

Passariello reported DHA was not approved to be sprayed on because some of the chemicals allowed in the DHA solution are quite poisonous.

Some of the chemicals allowed in the DHA solution are quite poisonous.

Dr. Thomas Pierce, a toxicologist, isn't a stranger to the fake tanning craze. He was one of the original researchers that investigated the harmful effects of ultraviolet tanning beds.

With the newest craze, he warned that while the industry may call DHA a simple sugar solution, there's nothing simple about it.

"It is not an ingestible sugar, and no one should be eating it," he said.

The government's regulations for DHA list several allowable contaminants in the solution.

Pierce said it contains lead, arsenic and mercury.

Arsenic and mercury are actually allowed because it was originally approved by the government for topical application, and was never meant to come in contact with lips, lungs or other sensitive membranes area that would allow it into the blood stream, Passariello reported.

He said the spray could be hazardous enough because people with respiratory problems should be taking extraordinary precautions.

"It's conceivable that they should wear a respirator during the time they are in there," he said.

Passariello reported that while WEWS was undercover, no one offered anything to keep the spray out of lungs, and when asked about nose filters, this was the response: "We don't have those, and I don't know if you can buy those anywhere," the worker said.

Another employee even joked about the matter.

"You're going to see when you get out, you'll want to blow your nose cause it's all like product, like bronzer, gets in your nose," the employee said.

Passariello reported all of the chemicals can be dangerous, but lead in particular is known to affect brain development. FDA officials said no one knows the effects spray tans have on a baby.

At one of the salons, where NewsChannel5 went undercover, a visibly pregnant employee said she uses the booth and it's safe.

"It is FDA-approved and all that fun stuff," she said.

The procedure, however, is not approved.

Last summer while responding to consumer questions, the FDA put out a memo recommending precautions.

The investigators obtained a longer version of that memo from June 2003 that said where precautions weren't being taken.

DHA tan booths are unsafe and thus illegal, Passariello reported.

The businesses are allowed to stay open because, "it is not mandated that we do that by Congress," Katz said.

Passariello said she checked around with local and state health departments to find out if they regulate sunless tanning booths. They don't. The state board of cosmetology issues permits for UV tanning beds, but does not have any regulatory authority over sunless spray tanning.

She added until the government steps in make consumers safe, consumers must protect themselves.

As part of the investigation, NewsChannel5 took a sample of sunless tanning solution from one local salon and sent it to a lab, but the tests for contaminants were unsubstantiated at the levels for which it was tested.

NewsChannel5 also spoke with two of the companies that distribute the DHA solution.

Mystic Tan said the amount of DHA that you would inhale would not pose a health risk.

Although, after the FDA memo came out last summer, it advised salons to offer nose and eye protection to clients, but say it can't be held responsible for what individual salons do.

Magic Tan said it just revised its literature to say the mist was never FDA-approved, and it was sent to salons last month.

Finally, at TNT Salon in Middleburg Heights, the salon said it has never received a complaint about the product and assured NewsChannel5 it will be certain that customers are always advised of precautions they can take while tanning.

Magic Tan made the following safety recommendations to its salons:

• Recommended Eye Protection: Disposable eye protection known as Winkies.
• Recommended Lip Protection: Any coating of a Lip Balm such as Vaseline, or similar product will work.
• Recommended Inhalation protection: A nose filter can be used to protect the mucous membrane of the nasal passages as well as providing inhalation protection.

Click here to read the letter, in its entirety, that Magic Tan sent to its salons.

Visit the FDA's Web site for more information.