Connecticut Wants Limits on Tanning Services

Connecticut lawmakers are considering banning indoor tanning for teens and children under the age of 18, arguing the practice is unhealthy for minors.

The General Assembly’s Public Health Committee, in a vote of 25-2 earlier this week, even strengthened Senate Bill 872 by striking from the measure language allowing minors to use commercial tanning services if they have a doctor’s note, according to a report on the website CT News Junkie.

The committee’s vote follows efforts by the commercial tanning industry to regulate itself after studies in recent years have questioned the health effects tanning beds have on the young.

At least 100 tanning salons in Connecticut have implemented new rules requiring parental permission for minors to tan. Health committee members, however, said those efforts were not enough and have sent the bill on to the full Senate for a vote.

During a public hearing before the committee last month numerous health care professionals, including pediatricians and skin cancer experts, testified about the risks to young people of indoor tanning.

“The science is clear that exposure to sun either through outdoor exposure or tanning salons contributes to the increasing incidence of melanoma,” Dr. John McNamara, the chairman of pediatrics at Norwalk Hospital, testified. “Melanoma is the most lethal of all skin cancers and in a significant number of cases it is preventable. Most teens have a sense of immortality and although education is an important part of prevention, in this age group it tends to fall on deaf ears. There is no doubt that a vote to limit access will save lives.”

Representatives from Connecticut’s tanning industry, however, argued that self-regulation by tanning bed operators, coupled with an existing state law requiring parental approval for anyone under the age of 16 who seeks tanning services, provides enough safeguards.

Paul Harrington, director of sales for Tommy’s Tanning Inc., which operates more than a dozen tanning salons in the state, told the committee that minors would probably find a way around a ban on indoor tanning - such as spending more time in the sun - and urged the committee to let the industry continue to regulate itself.

“We take our responsibility very seriously and we work with our clients to make sure they tan responsibly,” Harrington said. “The decision should be left to families to make and not the government.”