You might think that by now, we as a society would have realized that tanning beds are dangerous. But it seems there’s one particular age group with which tanning beds are actually growing in popularity—teenagers.
In fact, the problem has gotten so bad that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently released new rules, which prohibit minors (individuals under 18) from using tanning beds and booths.
Right now, only eleven states, and Washington, D.C., have this ban.
These rules would make it so only legal adults (18 or older) could use sunlamps, and would also require some legwork on the part of tanning facilities and sunlamp manufacturers, These would include changes, such as requiring an emergency off switch, limiting the amount of light allowed through protective eyewear, making warnings easier to read, improving labels on bulbs, and prohibiting installation of stronger bulbs or any other modifications without FDA re-certification.
According to the FDA, the amount of teens who tan is unacceptable.
“The effects of exposure to UV radiation add up over one’s lifetime,” said the FDA in a statement. “Therefore, UV radiation exposure in youth and teenagers puts them at greater risk for skin and eye damage later in life.”
According to the 2013 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1.6 million minors use indoor tanning equipment each year. The Skin Cancer Foundation reported that less than half of teens use sunscreen.
Tanning equipment causes 3,000 emergency room cases every year. Currently, there are at least 18,000 indoor tanning salons In the U.S. Some of them even offer discounts for high schoolers.
The sooner this gets under control, the better. Hopefully, we soon won’t have any teenagers damaging their skin under sun lamps. It’s just not worth it to damage the skin that early.
