State laws fail to curb teens indoor tanning

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State laws fail to curb teens' indoor tanning

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer Mon Dec 8, 7:10 am ET

ATLANTA – State laws meant to keep teens out of indoor tanning booths

haven't made a dent, a new study has found, disappointing doctors

hoping to reduce deadly skin cancers.

The researchers say it's not clear why the laws failed, but pointed to

lax enforcement as a factor.

The study is the first to look at the laws' impact. Some medical

experts were disturbed by the findings, saying more needs to be done

about the health threat from indoor tanning parlors.

" Basically, these are businesses that are exposing teenagers to

carcinogens, " said Dr. Sosman, a melanoma researcher at

Vanderbilt University, who was not involved in the new study. Melanoma

is the deadliest form of skin cancer and has been linked to childhood

sunburns.

An estimated 30 million Americans are customers of the nation's 25,000

indoor tanning businesses, according to the Indoor Tanning

Association. The organization argues that indoor tanning, when done

properly, can improve health.

Tanning parlors are popular with girls and young women. As many as one

in three girls use indoor tanning, some studies suggest. Researchers

say the rates may be even higher among female college students.

U.S. cases of melanoma have been increasing. It's not clear to what

extent indoor tanning has played a role in that trend, but people who

start indoor tanning when they're young have a higher risk of

melanoma, scientists say. Melanoma can almost always be cured if

caught early.

About 20 states now have some law aimed at curbing minors' use of

indoor tanning, said Vilma Cokkinides, an American Cancer Society

researcher who was one of the study's authors.

The research involved telephone surveys of more than 1,100 youths ages

11 to 18. The surveys were done in 1998 and 2004 in the 48 continental

states. Eight states in 1998 had new or fairly new laws to restrict

minors' access to indoor tanning.

Each of the laws allowed young people to use tanning parlors provided

they had some form of parental consent, in some cases a note from a

parent. Only one — California — had a stricter prohibition, banning

children 14 and under from using tanning facilities.

In those eight states, about 8 percent of youths used indoor tanning

in both 1998 and 2004 — no change over the six years. Nationally,

about 10 percent of youths used indoor tanning in those years,

likewise holding static.

The study was published in Cancer, a journal of the American Cancer

Society. Neutrogena Corp., a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of skin

care products, paid for the study, but the company had no say in its

design or analysis or the writing of the report, Cokkinides said.

Cokkinides said lax enforcement may be a factor behind the

ineffectiveness of the laws, but her surveys did not ask kids if they

had ever been turned away while trying to use an indoor tanning parlor.

In another study, published in October, researchers found that

one-third of health officials in states with indoor tanning laws said

they did not inspect tanning parlors, while another third inspected

less than once a year.

http://news./s/ap/20081208/ap_on_he_me/med_indoor_tanning_1