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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Meghana Desai, MBA and Jack Warren Salmon, PhD. Pharmacy Administration, University Of Illinois-Chicago, 833 S. Wood Street, Room 241, M/C 871, Chicago, IL 60612-7230, 773-407-7878, mdesai9@uic.edu

In the best interests of public health, there is crucial need for state regulatory policies pertaining to tanning salon operator education, direct-to-consumer advertising, banning underage tanning, public awareness campaigns to be mandated effectively over the indoor tanning industry. The incidence of melanoma (7^th most common cancer in the U.S) has more than tripled in the white population during the last 20 years. In 2005, according to the American Cancer Society, over 59,580 melanoma cases were expected to be diagnosed with resulting deaths as high as 7,770. Young people, particularly adolescents at a crucial age of defining themselves through perceived social appearances are highly susceptible to skin cancers in the long run through unrestricted and uninhibited UV exposure. Healthy People 2010 addresses issues of sun exposure but does not take into account unregulated indoor tanning, which contributes significantly to development of skin cancers. The U.S indoor tanning industry (estimated at $5 billion) wrongly advertises Vitamin-D production and UV-protection as health benefits of tanning. In addition to risk of skin cancers, indoor tanning poses other health risks including, skin/eye burns, photoaging, photo-drug reactions and alterations of the immune system. WHO suggests limiting access and creating awareness to prevent this high at-risk population from accumulating skin damage while the indoor tanning industry hopes to abolish restrictions on underage tanning through political campaign funds made to legislators. Thus, a state public health department regulatory role beyond current FDA/FTC strictures that are insufficiently protective is in order .

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