Law Would Ban ‘Underage Tanning’ at Salons

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Stephen Beale and Angela Sherwin, GoLocalProv Health Correspondent

The Rhode Island Senate is scheduled to vote today on a bill that would ban children under 18 from going to tanning salons—unless they have a prescription for an ultra-violet radiation treatment from a licensed doctor. Rhode Island is currently one of 19 states that does not regulate indoor tanning by minors.

The proposed ban had at least one local salon owner scratching her head yesterday.

“As far as the bill is concerned, I’m just scratching my head for what their purpose is,” said Gia Parmentier, owner of Mystic Tans in North Providence. “I don’t really get the 18-year-old thing.”

Parmentier said that under the existing law, teens need permission from their parents to visit a tanning salon. “I think they have the right to come and tan,” she said.

But Senator Rhoda Perry, a Democrat from the East Side of Providence, disagreed. “In the case of young people, the state can intervene and request that there be a ban,” Perry said.

She said that rates of melanoma—the deadliest form of skin cancer—had grown exponentially among Americans in their 20s and early 30s because of visits to tanning salons.

In fact, several studies have shown a connection between the use of indoor tanning and skin cancer. This risk is heightened if exposure to UV radiation occurs during adolescence. And melanoma is the second most common cancer in women 20 to 29 years old, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

But few customers at local tanning salons are under 18, according to two owners who spoke with GoLocalProv. They doubted that the new law would have much of an impact on their business.

“It wouldn’t even affect me at all,” said Nick Liakos, owner of Suma Tans on the East Side of Providence, next to Brown University. Liakos said the vast majority of his patrons are college students. He also owns a salon in Somerset, Massachusetts, where customers include everyone from soccer moms and vacation-bound retirees to singles and young couples—but the under-18 set is negligible, he said.

Parmentier said her salon mostly serves people from their 20s to 40s.

But Perry said teens under 18 were still using salons. She said it was important to prevent them at an early age from getting into the habit of going to tanning salons.

The bill will come before the Rhode Island Senate today. The session begins at 4 p.m.

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.