In their 2014 review of the effectiveness of existing state indoor tanning laws, Guy et al confirm that “age restrictions, in particular, may be effective in reducing indoor tanning among female high school students.” This supports Mayer et al’s 2011 findings that bans (as opposed to less stringent requirements such as parental consent) are the most effective way to reduce high rates of indoor tanning among adolescent girls.Įven more effective in protecting our youth, and all Americans, would be a population wide ban on commercial tanning beds. At a minimum, federal and state governments should ban the use of tanning beds by minors in the United States. Despite strong evidence of carcinogenicity, despite increasing skin cancer rates, and despite harrowing stories of young people dying, the US lags behind many countries in the regulation of tanning beds.
