Legislature missed an opportunity to reduce skin cancer, critics say

Advocates of restricting tanning bed use in Arizona say the Legislature this session missed a crucial opportunity to reduce skin cancer rates.

HB 2516, the “Dangers of Indoor Tanning” bill introduced by Rep. Regina Cobb, a Democrat from Kingman, would have banned anyone under the age of 18 from using tanning beds in Arizona. But the bill wasn’t assigned to a committee for a hearing and vote, and therefore failed.

At the same time, the incidence of melanoma doubled in the U.S. between 1982 and 2011, according to a federal report released last year, and young people are at particularly high risk, according to Brian Hummell of the American Cancer Society Action Network in Arizona.

The network has created a website, www.truthontans.com, with a logo that shows the long fluorescent bulbs found in tanning beds looking like cigarettes and coming out of what looks like a cigarette box.

“Indoor tanning devices are a known carcinogen and we are currently allowing children to use them in the state of Arizona,” Hummell recently told the Arizona House Health Commitee.

Not everyone agrees.

“To put tanning beds in the same category as tobacco is ridiculous and insulting, quite frankly,” said Joseph Levy, scientific adviser to the American Suntanning Association.

“We need UV light in order to live. You die without it. What different people in the medical community struggle with is how much we need.”

Placing restrictions on tanning bed use by minors will only result in an underground industry of privately owned tanning beds where the people operating them will not be trained, Levy said.

“It’s a recipe for sunburn, and we know sunburn is the UV-related risk factor. Sunburns double your risk of melanoma,” Levy said. “Forty-one percent of all sun bed use is now occurring in unmonitored units in a gym or somewhere else where there is no operator.”

‘No one seems to listen’

While Arizona requires parental consent for minors under the age of 18 to use tanning beds, a study published in January in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) journal Dermatology says that parental consent laws have not been effective in curbing minors’ use of tanning beds. The only effective measure is to ban their use, the study says.

Tucson dermatologist Dr. Gerald Goldberg says about 20 percent of adolescents use tanning beds and the numbers are going up, not down.

“The legislative process is totally frustrating,” he said. “No one seems to listen to the facts or to be willing to do what is right in terms of common-sense practices for public health.”

In 2012, a United States Energy and Commerce Committee Investigation found that 80 percent of tanning salons claimed false health benefits.

And there is a concern that in Arizona, tanning beds aren’t inspected in a timely manner. If they are improperly used, tanning beds can cause eye and tissue damage, according to a September 2015 Arizona Auditor General’s report on the Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency.

The report found that 47 percent of registered non-ionizing radiation facilities in Arizona, such as tanning beds, were overdue for an inspection.

Humans need sunlight

The World Health Organization classifies tanning beds as a carcinogen, but it classifies processed meat the same way, says Levy of the Michigan-based American Suntanning Association, which represents major retailers of suntanning facilities in the U.S.

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“When we are talking about carcinogens we are usually talking about something unnatural,” Levy said. “What I am saying is the issue needs a massive dose of nuance. Proponents of the bill are unwilling to acknowledge that.”

A safe level of sunlight for a fair-skinned redhead in Tucson is different from an African-American who lives in Boston, Levy said.

“What you want to teach is sunburn prevention,” he said.

Currently, 12 states prohibit minors under the age of 18 from using tanning beds — California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Vermont.

Indoor tanning exposes users to two types of UV rays — UVA and UVB, which damage the skin and can lead to cancer, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

A 2014 study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the Stanford University School of Medicine estimated that more than 400,000 cases of skin cancer may be related to indoor tanning in the U.S. each year, causing 245,000 basal cell carcinomas, 168,000 squamous cell carcinomas, and 6,000 melanomas.

Tanning beds near campus

Cobb’s bill was granted an “informational” time slot in the Arizona House Health Committee on Feb. 23. During that hearing, Mayo Clinic dermatologist Dr. Aaron Mangold said what makes melanoma particularly tragic is its disproportionate effect on young people.

Christine Nelson, a Phoenix resident in her 50s who has metastatic melanoma, also attended the hearing. She blames her illness on her use of tanning beds in the 1980s, when she was living in Washington state.

“There is a reason a tanning bed looks like a coffin,” Nelson said. “My parents told me not to go to a tanning bed and I still did.”

For the right price, students attending the University of Arizona can get luxury private housing near campus with perks like hot tubs, rooftop lounges and golf simulators. One of the more consistent amenities at luxury housing spots is free tanning beds, according to online marketing materials.

Hummell says he’s also been troubled by a recent trend where health clubs are making tanning beds available to members. While tanning beds must display warnings about cancer risks, the prevalence of tanning beds is sending the wrong message, he says.

“Most people assume that when a product is readily available to anyone who wants to use it, it’s safe,” Hummell said.

Personal responsibility

It was up to Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives David Gowan, a Republican from Sierra Vista, to assign the bill to a committee for a hearing and he didn’t do that. A spokeswoman for Gowan did not respond to a request for comment and Gowan did not respond to emails from the Star.

House Health Committee member Jay Lawrence, a Republican from Scottsdale, pointed out the personal responsibility at play.

“A government intervention in a person’s going to tanning beds might not be the most perfect,” he said during the Feb. 23 meeting. “I can see why the speaker might hold the bill.”

Cobb countered that the bill is about protecting children and she is hopeful that in the future, when there’s a new speaker of the house, the bill might have a chance. Gowan has announced he is running for Congress.