Health board bans minors from using tanning beds
Howard is first jurisdiction in nation to institute ban
By Sarah Breitenbach
sbreitenbach@patuxent.com
Posted 11/10/09
The Howard County Board of Health unanimously voted to ban minors from using indoor tanning beds Tuesday, the first such ban in the nation, according to local health officials.
The new regulation, introduced in September by County Executive Kenneth Ulman and Dr. Peter Beilenson, the county health officer, prohibits children younger than 18 from using the devices, which some studies suggest cause melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer.
The measure will take effect Thursday.
The board’s decision followed a two-hour public hearing attended by about 60 people. During the hearing, proponents of the regulation argued that Maryland law, which requires parental permission for minors to tan, is not strong enough to protect minors against a known health hazard, while opponents argued that the board was overstepping its authority.
Ban proponent Jane Shapiro, an Ellicott City resident and melanoma survivor, said she lost her father and grandmother to the cancer.
She said she visited tanning salons in her late 20s for less than a year.
“I had a hard enough time dealing with melanoma in middle age, I can not imagine what it would be like dealing with melanoma as a teenager or young adult.”
The ban also had the support of Brittany Lietz, Miss Maryland 2006, who attributes her melanoma to two years of regular use of indoor tanning beds.
“If you need to tan to feel good, you should probably ask yourself how scars all over your body would look, because that’s the boat I am in now,” Lietz, 24 said earlier this fall.
Representatives from anti-cancer organizations, including the American Cancer Society and Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults (the county executive’s brother Doug, whose cancer prompted establishment of the fund, is a skin cancer survivor), supported the measure.
Several cited a World Health Organization study that classifies tanning beds as a known carcinogen.
However, opponents discounted the study because it included people with Type One skin, which burns easily and does not tan.
Joe Levy, vice president for International Smart Tan said indoor tanning allows teens to build up a base tan in a controlled environment before outdoor sun exposure.
When asked by health board members if his organization keeps statistics on incidents of indoor tanning burns, he said did not have a specific number, but it would be a small percentage.
“If we burned people, they would not come back,” he said. “It isn’t in our best interest to burn people.”
Bruce Bereano, a lobbyist representing the Indoor Tanning Association, said that in order to create such a regulation under Maryland code, the board needed to prove tanning for minors is a nuisance or causes a disease.
“This record is woefully inaccurate and deficient to support that minors using a tanning salon is a public nuisance or causes disease,” he said.
Bereano promised to challenge the decision. “We’ll see them in court,” he said after the vote.
Salon owners and other advocates of indoor tanning also testified, arguing that banning minors from tanning salons would hurt business and that UV light exposure helps the body produce healthful Vitamin D.
Officials said there are 17 tanning salons in Howard County and more than 100 locations that offer tanning beds.
The ban also includes regulations on sanitation and hygiene practices, and requires tanning salons to register with the health officer each year.
There is no fine for failing to comply with age restrictions, but salon owners can be taken to court for allowing minors to tan, Beilenson said.
The only minors allowed to tan in Howard County will be those with a prescription indicating a medical condition.
The Baltimore County Council took public comment Tuesday on legislation that would create a similar ban. The seven-member council is scheduled to vote on the measure next week.
The new regulation, introduced in September by County Executive Kenneth Ulman and Dr. Peter Beilenson, the county health officer, prohibits children younger than 18 from using the devices, which some studies suggest cause melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer.
The measure will take effect Thursday.
The board’s decision followed a two-hour public hearing attended by about 60 people. During the hearing, proponents of the regulation argued that Maryland law, which requires parental permission for minors to tan, is not strong enough to protect minors against a known health hazard, while opponents argued that the board was overstepping its authority.
Ban proponent Jane Shapiro, an Ellicott City resident and melanoma survivor, said she lost her father and grandmother to the cancer.
She said she visited tanning salons in her late 20s for less than a year.
“I had a hard enough time dealing with melanoma in middle age, I can not imagine what it would be like dealing with melanoma as a teenager or young adult.”
The ban also had the support of Brittany Lietz, Miss Maryland 2006, who attributes her melanoma to two years of regular use of indoor tanning beds.
“If you need to tan to feel good, you should probably ask yourself how scars all over your body would look, because that’s the boat I am in now,” Lietz, 24 said earlier this fall.
Representatives from anti-cancer organizations, including the American Cancer Society and Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults (the county executive’s brother Doug, whose cancer prompted establishment of the fund, is a skin cancer survivor), supported the measure.
Several cited a World Health Organization study that classifies tanning beds as a known carcinogen.
However, opponents discounted the study because it included people with Type One skin, which burns easily and does not tan.
Joe Levy, vice president for International Smart Tan said indoor tanning allows teens to build up a base tan in a controlled environment before outdoor sun exposure.
When asked by health board members if his organization keeps statistics on incidents of indoor tanning burns, he said did not have a specific number, but it would be a small percentage.
“If we burned people, they would not come back,” he said. “It isn’t in our best interest to burn people.”
Bruce Bereano, a lobbyist representing the Indoor Tanning Association, said that in order to create such a regulation under Maryland code, the board needed to prove tanning for minors is a nuisance or causes a disease.
“This record is woefully inaccurate and deficient to support that minors using a tanning salon is a public nuisance or causes disease,” he said.
Bereano promised to challenge the decision. “We’ll see them in court,” he said after the vote.
Salon owners and other advocates of indoor tanning also testified, arguing that banning minors from tanning salons would hurt business and that UV light exposure helps the body produce healthful Vitamin D.
Officials said there are 17 tanning salons in Howard County and more than 100 locations that offer tanning beds.
The ban also includes regulations on sanitation and hygiene practices, and requires tanning salons to register with the health officer each year.
There is no fine for failing to comply with age restrictions, but salon owners can be taken to court for allowing minors to tan, Beilenson said.
The only minors allowed to tan in Howard County will be those with a prescription indicating a medical condition.
The Baltimore County Council took public comment Tuesday on legislation that would create a similar ban. The seven-member council is scheduled to vote on the measure next week.
http://www.explorehoward.com/news/66932/health-board-bans-minors-using-tanning-beds/
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