Teenagers and Artificial Tanning

Abstract

Recently, many states have attempted to pass laws to limit teenagers' access to tanning facilities. During the 2007 legislative session alone, 16 states introduced bills on this topic and, as of December 2007, 4 became law.1 At least 28 states and 4 counties regulate tanning facilities for minors.1 Mounting evidence about the carcinogenicity of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) from tanning devices has led to this wave of legislation. Artificial tanning, primarily through of the use of tanning beds in commercial tanning salons, began in the 1970s. The “tanning industry” is booming, with ∼$5 billion of annual revenue, up from $1 billion in 1992.2 Twenty-eight million visits are made to the 50000 tanning facilities in the United States each year.2 Artificial tanning is popular with teenagers. In a national sample of non-Hispanic white teenagers, 24% of respondents between the ages of 13 and 19 reported using a tanning facility at least once in their lives; this represented 2.9 million teenagers.3 In another national survey, 10% of youth between the ages of 11 and 18 reported using indoor tanning sunlamps in the previous year.4 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.5 Artificial tanning is especially popular with girls and women: of 1 million people who use tanning salons every day, 70% are females between the ages of 16 and 49. Twenty-eight percent of US teenage girls interviewed in 1996 have used tanning salons 3 or more times during their lives.3 Artificial tanning among white girls rises rapidly with age, more than doubling from ages 14 to 15 (7% to 15%), and doubling again at age 17 (35%).6 Of female tanning bed users, at … Address correspondence to Sophie J. Balk MD, Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1621 Eastchester Road, Bronx, NY 10461. E-mail: sbalk{at}montefiore.org