WNC doctors, cancer survivors ask NC Senate to ban the tan

Youth Skin Cancer Prevention Act

• The Youth Skin Cancer Prevention Act would protect children from the dangers of skin cancer by banning children under the age of 18 from indoor tanning facilities in North Carolina.  This legislation was approved by the NC House of Representatives in March, 2013 by a 94-22 vote and remains eligible for consideration by the NC Senate during the 2014 NC General Assembly.

• Supported by: the NC Dermatology Association, NC Pediatric Society, the NC Medical Society, the American Cancer Society, NC Oncology Association, NC Child Fatality Task Force, the NC Advisory Committee on Cancer Coordination and Control and the Western Carolina Medical Society, among other organizations.

• Melanoma is dangerous and deadly. Cases are on the rise, especially among teens.
  • Melanoma is the most common form of cancer for young adults 25-29 years old and the second most common form of cancer for adolescents and young adults 15-29 years old.
  • Indoor tanning has now been linked to more cases of skin cancer than smoking is linked to lung cancer
  • Teens and young adults who begin tanning before the age of 35 have a 59 percent higher risk of melanoma
  • An individual’s current chances of getting melanoma are 1 in 74. In 1980, they were 1 in 250.  In 1930, it was 1 in 1,500. By 2015, the risk that an individual will get melanoma is expected to be 1 in 50.
  • The estimated total direct cost associated with the treatment of melanoma in 2010 was $2.36 billion. Since 2008, NC Medicaid, the State Employees Health Plan and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of NC spent more than $115 million on the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer.

• Science has shown that there is a clear link between indoor tanning facilities and melanoma.
  • In a controlled study, 76% of melanomas were attributable to ever-use (even one session) of an indoor tanning device.
  • UV radiation in tanning booths can be up to 15 times greater than the sun.

• Teens are a strong and growing market for tanning facilities.
  • 76% of teens live within two miles of a tanning salon.
  • More than one quarter of 17 year olds and one in five 16 year olds have used indoor tanning facilities.
  • On an average day in the United States, more than 1 million people tan in tanning salons; nearly 70 percent are Caucasian women and girls, primarily aged 16 to 29 years.

• Current NC law prohibits anyone under the age of 13 from using a tanning bed; teenager must have parent permission to do so. Six states – including TX, IL, VT, OR, CA and NV – prohibit minors from using tanning beds; at least a dozen more are currently debating doing so.

• Planet Beach, one of the largest tanning/salon franchises in the US, recently endorsed legislation to prohibit minors from using indoor tanning beds and has stopped allowing minors to use tanning beds at its franchises.