Worse Than Tobacco? Why Lawmakers Are Regulating Indoor Tanning

Posted on Sep 05, 2013 by Ailee Slater (G+)

On September 1, Texas became the sixth state in the U.S. pass legislation prohibiting minors from using indoor tanning salons. Joining Arizona, Michigan and North Carolina, Texas will now require that anyone under the age of 18 be prohibited from visiting a tanning facility; even if that minor has a note of parental consent. This tanning law may come as a surprise to Americans who know Texas as a state that isn’t enthusiastic about government interference in business. However, lawmakers have clearly decided that indoor tanning is a health risk – and that prohibiting the practice amongst minors will lead to fewer cases of melanoma.

Melanoma is not the most common type of skin cancer, but it is the most fatal. The American Cancer Society reports that around 120,000 cases of melanoma are diagnosed every year, with more than 8,000 deaths annually as a result of the disease. Worldwide, around 48,000 people die from melanoma every year. Of all skin-cancer related fatalities, melanoma is responsible for 75 percent.

The link between indoor tanning and melanoma is ultra violet radiation. Melanoma occurs when skin cells are damaged, remain unrepaired and then mutate and multiply; causing malignant tumors. That damage to skin cells is most often caused by UV radiation; either from natural sunlight, or from indoor tanning beds. At a tanning salon, the customer is exposed to both UV-A and UV-B rays, increasing the chance that damage to skin cells will occur. The Skin Cancer Foundation and other public health organizations agree that a person who frequents indoor tanning salons increases their melanoma risk by 74 percent – and that risk may be lower, or higher, depending on how often the indoor tanning occurs.

The risks of indoor tanning are especially significant for minors, according to many health care professionals. In Texas, the medical director of the Melanoma and Skin Center at the University of Texas, Dr. Jeffrey E. Gershenwald, told the New York Times that people who start indoor tanning before the age of 18 will increase their risk of developing melanoma by 85 percent. At the moment, we don’t know whether skin cancer risk increases due to a quality of a younger person’s skin, or simply due to the fact that starting the habit at a younger age means more tanning across a lifetime and therefore more eventual skin damage.

In recent years, many melanoma patients have come forward with stories of teenage tanning which they say has definitely contributed to their struggles with cancer. Cheri Huber recently spoke to the New York Times about her 2008 diagnosis of melanoma – a diagnosis that came at age 41, after having used indoor tanning salons since the age of 16. Ms. Huber is now in recovery, and says she wishes that she had been informed about the dangers of indoor tanning when she started the practice; even now, there are few public health warning against tanning on a regular basis.

As in many states, previous state legislation in Texas allowed minors over the age of 16 to tan, as long as they could present a note of permission from parents. With the new legislation passed this month, all minors are banned from indoor tanning. Many states in the U.S. still have policies similar to Texas’s previous law. In Idaho, for example, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 16 to use a tanning bed, and 16- and 17-year-olds must have parental consent before tanning. Colorado has a similar law, but minors are allowed to start tanning with their parent’s permission at age 15.

Globally, access to indoor tanning facilities is becoming more restricted. A 2012 report from the journal JAMA Dermatology, a publication of the American Medical Association, showed that countries with indoor tanning legislation are increasing, and the risks of UV exposure are becoming more well known. Researchers also pointed out differences between global legislation of tobacco versus legislation of tanning; whereas tobacco laws are quite uniform within countries and even across the globe, laws on indoor tanning tend to vary from state to state and from country to country.

In Australia, for example, six territories already prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from indoor tanning, and both Victoria and New South Wales have expressed governmental support for a complete ban on tanning beds by 2014. Compare this to neighboring nation New Zealand, where although legislators have said that under-18 bans will soon be in place, there is currently no legislation banning minors from indoor tanning facilities.

Of course, members of in the indoor tanning industry argue that when used correctly, tanning beds are perfectly safe. In response to the new Texas law, Joseph Levy of the American Suntanning Association told legislators that tanning at an indoor facility is safer than other tanning, because at a salon the tanning duration and UV exposure are closely regulated by a professional. Therefore, putting limitations upon tanning salons, such as banning all minors, is ultimately bad for public health. State business owners have also protested the Texas decision, arguing that the government should not interfere in public enterprise; however, lawmakers such as Houston Democrat Sylvia Garcia, co-writer of the bill, argue that indoor tanning is an issue of public health. Senator Garcia has compared indoor tanning to drinking and smoking, saying it is a practice that needs to be regulated, especially as many people do not understand the health risks.

With the recent legislation in Texas, it’s likely that more U.S. state will reevaluate their own indoor tanning policies. Oregon and Illinois have both passed laws banning minors from tanning salons this year, and those rules will take effect beginning in 2014. If public health groups continue to push for stricter legislation on minors and indoor tanning, and continue publishing melanoma statistics that show a clear link between tanning beds and melanoma, it’s not hard to imagine that states such as Florida – which currently allows minors as young as 12 to tan as long as they are accompanied by a parent – will soon revisit indoor tanning laws.