The FDA may enact regulations that completely ban minors from using tanning beds..
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Every bed at Sunangles Tanning Salon in Carbondale has personalized skin sensors created to prevent over-exposure, which is a relatively new technology. The proposal also states that adults would be required to sign a risk acknowledgement certification of using tanning beds.
The FDA’s proposal would unite a nation that already has been moving toward implementing indoor tanning restrictions.
“Nearly 70 percent of tanning salon patrons are Caucasian girls and young women, and melanoma is increasing faster in young women 15-29 years old than in young men of the same age”. In a press release today, the FDA said it was committed to protecting public health by informing consumers of the risks of indoor tanning devices.
Still, survey data cited by the FDA show that 1.6 million minors use indoor tanning devices each year.
The Indoor Tanning Association says they feel the decision on indoor tanning for teens is one for parental consideration and not governmental involvement, and that it supports the right to parental consent.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average of more than 3,000 emergency department room visits occur for injuries related to indoor tanning each year in the USA (based on 2003-2012 data). FDA proposed that they need to include panic buttons in their installations; operators need to make warnings about the risks; improve eye safety in people and uninstall stronger bulbs.
“The FDA’s long-awaited tanning device proposals are an important step that will help to reduce skin cancer diagnoses and deaths”, the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network said in a statement.
The FDA issued two proposed rules.
Dr. Sandy Johnson with Johnson Dermatology in Fort Smith said, to date, she has diagnosed 42 patients with Melanoma. In fact, indoor tanning devices are required to have the Food and Drug Administration’s sternest warning label and the World Health Organization categorizes indoor tanning as a known carcinogen, the same classification given to cigarettes.
Owner of Sun Station Tanning Studios, Hannah Hipps, says, “I feel like it’s up to the parents and if the parents are okay with it then they should be able to tan”. There are 18,000 to 19,000 indoor tanning salons in the United States and as many as 20,000 other facilities, such as health clubs, offering tanning services, according to the FDA.
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Beginning Monday, the proposed rules will be available for online public comment for 90 days at regulations.gov.
