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Add to FavoritesBanning teens from indoor tanning salons on the basis that U.V. exposure is harmful to their fragile skin is tantamount to preventing teens from lying outside in their backyard in the summer without sunscreen, or prohibiting teens from hitting the beach without their parents, an absolute absurdity.
When will society stop legislating every aspect of parenting and start leaving certain lifestyle choices to the discretion of parents, who maintain full responsibility of their teen's upbringing, until he or she turns 18?
Tanning salons should be permitted to count teens among their clientele, provided that a few criteria are met, if they are not already:
1) At least one parent must consent in writing with the salon (and according to law, they do) and agree to allow the teen to tan. The parent must affirm that he or she understands the risks associated with the activity.
2) The parent must attend each tanning session with the teen. (This may or may not be the current practice.)
3) The parent must present proper identification along with the teen as proof that he or she is the legal parent or guardian, and is authorized to make decisions on behalf of the teen.
In addition, when offering a tanning service to teenage client, a salon should adhere to certain safeguards as well, in consideration of the vulnerability of the youth's age and skin type.
1) The tanning salon must make a conservative recommendation about maximum U.V. exposure time, to reduce the risk of skin irritation and burning.
2) The personnel at the salon should explain proper skin care, including how to correctly moisturize and exfoliate.
3) The salon staff ought to recommend lotions and gels and alert the teen to the emollients and properties within the products and explain how they protect the skin. (This is common practice in tanning salons.)
Moreover, if the teen (or any other client, for that matter) refuses to adhere to certain standards, such as respecting the recommended maximum exposure time or wearing protective eyewear, the tanning salon should refuse the service to the client.
Likewise, if the teen has a fair and/or freckled complexion not conducive to tanning, the salon should likewise refuse the service to the teen.
With proper precautions in place, teens should be able to use tanning salon facilities. True, tanning, both indoor and outdoor, does elevate skin cancer risks, and is a significant cause of melanoma. However, like everything else in life, moderation is key, and controlled and sparing, albeit very sparing, use of tanning salons isn't as harmful as some activities and substances available in other places.
Besides, from the food we eat, to the air we breathe, to the radiation we (sometimes voluntarily) expose ourselves to on a daily basis, is anything truly safe anymore? Probably even the strictest sun scoffers go outside minus their 60+ SPF protection, once and a while.
There are far more precarious activities that teens could be pursuing, besides attending tanning salons with their parents' permission, so why not cut a sun-starved teen some slack every now and then, and just let him or her tan in peace?
Learn more about this author, Paola Fanutti.
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No
In the past 50 years, a tanned skin has been regarded as a sign of beauty, good health, and physical fitness. It has also been associated with spare time, open air activity, sports, relaxation, body care, self-esteem, and the joy of living, in general. Tanning has become a part of modern lifestyle, especially among the young. The media has certainly played an essential role in promoting the image of the tanned body as a symbol of freedom and well-being.
The use of indoor ultraviolet (UV) tanning beds began in the 1970s, but their popularity highly increased during the past 20 years. The "tanning industry" is booming, with $5 billion of annual revenue, up from $1 billion in 1992. Twenty-eight million visits are made to the 50,000 tanning facilities in the United States each year. Teenagers are specifically targeted by the tanning industry through methods such as advertisements placed in high-school newspapers. Advertisements commonly offer coupons for discounts, including "unlimited tanning" offers (Balk & Geller, 2008).
For example, in Chicago, the percentage of young people using such devices grew from 1% in 1988 to 26% in 1994, and has remained stable ever since (Robinson, 2008). The "Growing Up Today Study" (GUTS), a national US survey conducted in 1999 among 10,000 boys and girls 12 to 18 years of age, revealed that almost 10% of respondents used a tanning bed during the previous year. Girls versus boys and older girls (ages 15-18) versus younger girls (ages 12-14) were far more likely to use tanning beds (14% vs 2%, and 25% vs 5%, respectively). At the age of 14 only 7 percent of girls use tanning beds, but this percentage rises to 35 by the age of 17 (Geller, 2002). According to the girls' own answers, this tendency may be induced by peer influence and a desire to look like "other females in the media" (O'Riordan, 2006).
However, current data indicates that sun exposure can increase the risk of developing melanoma and other types of skin cancer by 60 to 70% (Nelemans, 1995; Elwood and Jopson, 1997). It has been estimated that UV radiation from the sun is responsible for at least 65% of the melanoma cases worldwide (Armstrong, 1993). Furthermore, UV exposure during childhood and intermittent rather than chronic exposure are particularly harmful in this respect (Autier, 1998; Elwood, 1992). Gallagher et al. found that people who lived in a sunny environment for more than one year before the age of 10 had a fourfold increase in the rate of melanoma, and people born in California have more melanoma than other Americans, irrespective of their current place of residence (Scarlett, 2003). A systematic review and a combined analysis of the most relevant studies (Gallagher, 2005) showed that use of tanning devices is associated with a 25% increase in melanoma risk (and this percentage may still be underestimated). It has been suggested that limiting UV exposure during childhood and adolescence, through the use of sunscreens, could reduce the lifetime risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancers by as much as 78% (Stern, 1986).
In the past 20 years, the awareness of young people about skin cancer being linked with tanning has significantly increased; however, the use of tanning devices has not been reduced (Robinson, 2008). Furthermore, only one-third of US teenagers use sunscreens, and the rate of self-reported sunburning is extremely high (Geller, 2002). Interestingly, even having a family history of melanoma doesn't seem to prevent adolescents from using tanning beds! (Geller, 2006). The recommendations of dermatologists in the US for UV protection and avoidance of tanning devices and sunburning, which began in the early 1990s, have obviously been largely disregarded.
Therefor e, many states have recently attempted to pass laws limiting teenagers' access to tanning facilities. In 2007, 16 states introduced bills on this topic and, as a result, 4 became law. At least 28 states and 4 counties regulate tanning facilities for minors (Balk & Geller, 2008). It becomes clear that wide national programs, including policy changes, need to be implemented if we want to prevent our children and adolescents from developing skin cancer as adults.
Learn more about this author, Stephen Janowsky.
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