With melanoma skin cancer cases rising, and evidence piling up as to the reason why — the FDA has sensibly, if belatedly, proposed banning minors from using tanning beds. The federal government follows Washington and other states that have already passed laws to keep young people from using the beds. The majority of other states allow tanning with a parent’s signature; the federal action would unify the regulations — just like laws prohibiting minors from smoking or drinking alcohol.
The experts are in agreement on this: For years, The American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Dermatology and World Health Organization called on states to ban children under 18 from tanning salons. Melanoma is the most common form of cancer among people between 25 and 29, according to the National Cancer Institute. It is also the most dangerous (but not the only dangerous) form of skin cancer.
Just one indoor ultraviolet tanning session, according to recent research, increases users’ chances of developing melanoma by 20 percent, and each additional session during the same year boosts the risk almost another two percent, the Skin Cancer Foundation reported. People who use tanning beds 10 or more times in their lifetime have a 34 percent increased chance of melanoma, compared with people who have never had that exposure.
One of the reasons a law is necessary can be found in the a 2011 online survey by the American Academy of Dermatology, which found that most females (86 percent) who reported using an indoor tanning bed in the last year knew it could increase the risk of skin cancer, but believed that the “cosmetic reasons” of tanning outweighed the risks, he Los Angeles Times reported. And 48 percent of the indoor tanners knew someone with skin cancer or someone who’d had it.
Another need for the law, according to yet another survey, is that “many white teen girls and young women who use indoor tanning beds have mothers who also use tanning beds,” HealthDay News reported.
“It’s time we started treating (tanning beds) just like they are cigarettes. They are carcinogen delivery systems,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said at a May 20 Capitol Hill briefing on the dangers of indoor tanning, CNN reported. “We do not allow our children to buy cigarettes, yet the tanning industry continues to target adolescent girls. And this is not unlike what we found with the tobacco industry.”
Public health advocates say the availability of tanning beds near college campuses and marketing toward young people continue to go unchecked, CNN reported. A 2014 study of 125 top colleges found that 48 percent had tanning facilities either on campus or in off-campus housing, and 14.4 percent allowed campus cash cards to be used for indoor tanning.
Science, health and safety must trump any business concerns or industry protests. Banning minors from tanning beds will prevent cancer. Fast action by the FDA is required.
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