TEEN TANNING DRAWS HEAT IN SOME STATES
Volume 28, Issue 492 May 25, 2007
Megan Foreman
As summer arrives, a growing number of lawmakers are turning their attention to the prevention of skin cancer. During 2007, 15 state legislatures considered bills that would have done everything from mandating that school curriculums include sun safety instruction to banning indoor tanning for minors.
Lawmakers have become increasingly concerned about rising skin cancer rates, especially because its victims are frequently younger than most other cancer patients. According to the American Cancer Society, one in every 15,000 boys ages 15-19, and one in every 30,000 girls will be diagnosed with melanoma this year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ranks skin cancer as the third most common cancer for people ages 20-24 and the most common cancer among people ages 25-29.
Some of the bills seek to restrict adolescents’ access to indoor tanning devices, which mimic sunlight in a much more concentrated dose by using intense ultraviolet (UV) rays. While indoor tanning is certainly not the only culprit to blame for skin cancer, some legislators are concerned that the damage incurred during adolescence can be deadly later in life.
The CDC reports that approximately 65-90 percent of melanomas are caused by UV radiation. More than one-half of a person's lifetime UV exposure occurs during childhood; by 18, most people have absorbed 80 percent of their lifetime UV exposure, says the American Academy of Dermatology.
The Beehive State took the prevention route to fighting rising skin cancer rates. In its 2007 session, the Utah Legislature passed, and the governor signed, Utah SB 52. The new law requires a parent or guardian of a child under 18 to appear in person to sign a waiver allowing a child to use a tanning facility. Parents must specify the number of tanning sessions the minor is allowed, and waivers expire after 12 months so parents must re-appear in person once a year.
Utah Senator Patricia Jones sponsored the legislation that addressed three things: skin cancer prevention, county-to-county equity within the regulations, and parental rights." [The law] gives parents control and direction over what their kids are doing,” she said. “It gave parents the time and opportunity to read about the dangers [of indoor tanning] and communicate with their kids about what they are doing."
Her initial motivation was that cancer prevention might lessen the human and financial burden of disease. "Health-care costs are spiraling out-of-control so fast, we [in the Legislature] ought to be looking at prevention, rather than trying to mitigate cost afterwards," she said. "The Legislature has to start the ball rolling and help people understand that many of these diseases are preventable."
Utah is not unique. Prior to the 2007 legislative session, 25 states had laws in place to restrict minors' access to indoor tanning devices. These laws vary in scope, but generally require tanning facilities to obtain a parent or legal guardian's written permission before allowing a teen to tan. (For more, go to www.ncsl.org/programs/health/tanningrestrictions.htm)
Some Support in the Industry
According to data from the Indoor Tanning Association (ITA), the $5 billion dollar indoor tanning industry employs more than 160,000 Americans, mostly in small businesses. Over 30 million Americans patronize the salons each year, 2.3 million of whom are teens. On its Web site, the industry says that indoor tanning minimizes the risk of sunburn while maximizing the enjoyment of having a tan.
Nevertheless, ITA Executive Director John Overstreet supports parental consent laws. “Industry strongly supports parental consent for kids under 18 to use tanning devices," he said.
He wonders, however, about the need for additional laws. "In my estimate, 70 percent of the population is already covered by a state requirement for parental consent," Overstreet added. In the states that do not require parental consent, it is standard practice, Overstreet states, because many small business insurance policies require it when companies deal with minors. It is "simply a good idea for the business (to have a parent's permission)," he explained.
There is little independent data to support Overstreet’s claim that 70 percent of the population is already covered by state requirements; however, in states without tanning laws, the Health Departments often allow individual counties to implement their own regulations on teen tanning.
This county-to-county regulation was precisely the situation in Utah. Senator Jones said she expected resistance from some business groups and was surprised when her measure had no opponents. One small indoor tanning salon even testified in favor of the bill because, the owners said, it evened the playing field between counties. At least one Utah county had parental consent regulations in effect for years, which caused that county’s businesses to lose customers to other, less restrictive, counties.
But if the bill in Utah met little or no resistance, similar legislation in other parts of the country has engendered staunch opposition. California lawmakers are debating AB 105, which would ban people under the age of 18 from using tanning devices altogether. California leads the nation in the number of new melanoma cases, which will top out at an estimated 6,680 this year.
Assemblyman Ted Lieu, sponsor of AB 105, felt it was time to take on this issue because of the spike in skin cancer rates among increasingly younger women, said his chief of staff, David Ford. Originally, AB 105 sought to ban people under the age of 16 from indoor tanning, but the limit was upped to 18 in committee. According to Ford, committee members looked at the recommendations from the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Dermatology—both of which recommend that no one under 18 use tanning devices—and chose to heed those guidelines.
The ITA is fighting the bill. "California already has some of the most restrictive state regulations in the country,” said Overstreet. “The proposed ban is an outrageous intrusion of government. If the Legislature honestly believes tanning is harmful for teens, are they willing to ban teens from state beaches and pools?"
"We don't let kids under age 18 vote, smoke or join the army," Ford responded, "because they aren't ready to make lasting, complicated decisions about these risky behaviors. Indoor tanning is one risk we shouldn't let them take."
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JUST THE FACTS
There are two types of skin cancer: melanoma and nonmelanoma. Nonmelanoma cancer, which includes basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, is much more common than melanoma. More than 1 million people will be diagnosed with nonmelanoma skin cancer this year. This type of cancer rarely spreads to other parts of the body and, with early detection and treatment, persons who develop it have excellent survival rates.
Melanoma accounts for only 3 percent of skin cancer cases, but causes the majority of skin cancer deaths because it often spreads to other parts of the body. While melanoma is usually treatable if caught early, the number of new cases is on the rise. According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 59,940 new melanoma cases will be diagnosed in 2007, and 8,110 people will die from the disease.
Risk factors for melanoma include sun exposure and sunburn, blistering sunburns during childhood or teenage years, fair skin, freckles, moles and a family history of melanoma. Fair-skinned people aren’t the only ones at risk, and cancer isn’t the only potential problem. UV exposure also can increase the risk of cataracts and immune suppression in people of all skin tones. |
NCSL’s Megan Foreman covers teen tanning, as well as women's, maternal and child health issues.
© Copyright 2007, State Health Notes
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