Is it Time to Regulate Tanning Salons?

By Dan Gorenstein on Tuesday, March 18, 2003.

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Spring is just days away.

With warmer weather come fewer, and sometimes more revealing clothes.

But after a long winter of gray, snowy weather, many people don?t want to show off pasty, white skin.

With at least 310 known tanning salons though, it isn?t too hard to find a place to get a rich tan even during a New Hampshire winter.

But some state lawmakers are concerned people don?t fully appreciate the risks associated with tanning.

They?ve introduced legislation that requires tanning bed owners and operators do more to educate their clients.

But as NHPR?s Dan Gorenstein reports, some in the tanning industry say the new regulations won?t significantly improve the situation.

Annette Bean has been visiting tanning salons for ten years.

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:31 back then people just said you could go in and do what you wanted to. You learn to close your eyes b/c the ultra violet light, they hurt, ?:56 you learn, after you tan for a while, some of the tricks of the trade.

But Republican Representative Janeen Dalrymple doesn?t? want people to have to learn the tricks of the trade in order to tan safely.

Dalrymple, a registered nurse, is the prime sponsor of a bill to regulate tanning salons.

4:23 ? A lot of people don?t look beyond the moment of looking great and feeling great, and don?t take the time to think about the untold consequences of being exposed to ultra violet light and taking the appropriate precautions.

Dalyrmple?s bill sets sanitation standards, requires protective eyewear, multiple warning signs and release forms.

The measure also requires that minors have parental consent.

Supporters of the bill argue this legislation is needed now.

In New Hampshire, tanning is a 50 million dollar industry, with little sign of slowing.

And that a recent Dartmouth study has found people who use tanning lamps have a greater risk of developing some types of skin cancer.

Dartmouth Hitchcock Dermatologist Peter Sands doesn?t believe there is such a thing as a safe tan.

:58 ? In order for the skin to tan, it first has to suffer injury. The injury is when the light hits the skin cells DNA and injures the DNA, the skin responds by putting up a tan. A tan is sort of a desperate attempt to put up an umbrella from further DNA damage.

Sands is also troubled by a recent pattern he?s seen.

3:55 ? I have seen five patients in the past year and a half?who had developed malanoma with extensive indoor tanning history.

Trish Kuhn doesn?t want to see people hurt while tanning.

But Kuhn, who runs a tanning salon in Salem, New Hampshire, says the proposed legislation won?t really help her customers.

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1:40 it?s not going to make a difference in the way people tan today, it is not going to make a difference by them putting two little tweaks into federal regulations.

Federal law doesn?t require eyewear or parental consent.

Kuhn says she already keeps her place clean, requires the eyewear, posts warning signs, and provides consent forms.

But not every salon has the same standards.

And proponents believe this bill begins to provide the public with some protection, and education.

Long-time tanner, Annette Bean, sees a need for some kind of legislation.

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1:07 ?you can tell a tanning salon, by walking into it, the cleanlness of the salon, what type of people are behind the counter, if they don?t go over anything with you, if they just say tanning is x amount for how long you are going to sign up for, and here?s the lotion. ?you want to make sure someone who knows what they are doing, the different types of lotion, you want your eyes to be protected, b/c who knows, do you want to come out blind! Right?

But critics of the bill say it won?t ensure the safety that Bean wants.

State lawmakers have decided at this time not to make a decision on the measure.

They say they need more time to devise a better bill.

The House is expected to take it up in the fall.

For NHPR News, I?m DG.