Smoking is to lung cancer as tanning is to melanoma.
Efforts to ban indoor tanning for those under the age of 18 have found success in recently passed Ohio legislation: House Bill 131, which took effect in March.
The bill requires anyone under the age of 18 to have his or her parents sign a consent form in the tanning salon before their child is permitted to use the facilities.
Previously, minors could bring in a signed parental consent forms, but now parents must accompany their children to the tanning salon. Children under 16 must have their parents present for the entire time they are in the tanning salon.
Dr. Larisa Ravitskiy, founder of the Ohio Skin Cancer Institute, is a staunch supporter of increasing regulations on tanning bed use and was a key proponent of the bill. Prolonged exposure to tanning beds is incredibly detrimental to the health of one’s skin, Ravitskiy says.
“Twenty minutes of tanning bed exposure does damage equivalent to three to five hours of natural sunlight,” she says. “(Ultraviolet radiation) damage is cumulative over (a) life course. The earlier and more intense the exposure, the higher the likelihood of developing both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers.”
