WASHINGTON — Anyone under the age of 18 would be barred from using indoor tanning equipment, under a federal proposal to help reduce skin cancer linked to the devices.
The Food and Drug Administration also wants to require tanning bed users to sign consent forms acknowledging the risks of the radiation-emitting devices. Tanning salons and other businesses would have to collect the forms from customers before their first tanning session and every six months thereafter.
Friday’s announcement follows years of prodding by dermatologists and medical groups for bolder action on indoor tanning, citing rising rates of skin cancer among teens and people in their 20s, particularly women. The leading professional group for skin specialists applauded the news.
“Indoor tanning is the cigarette of this generation, it is so clearly carcinogenic,” said Dr. Mark Lebwohl, president of the American Academy of Dermatology. “It is long overdue and a historic victory in our fight to eradicate skin cancer that the FDA has come out with a proposal to restrict indoor tanning.”
Indoor tanning beds deliver between 10 to 15 times more ultraviolet radiation than the midday sun. And people who use indoor tanning equipment face a 59 percent higher risk of melanoma than those who do not, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
About 1.6 million U.S. teenagers tan indoors each year at more than 33,000 tanning salons, gyms, spas and other facilities that offer sun lamps and tanning beds, according to figures cited by the FDA.
A second proposal from the agency would require manufacturers of tanning equipment to make additional changes to their machines, including: bolder, easier-to-read warnings and mandating an emergency shut off switch.
The FDA will take public comments on its proposals for 90 days before beginning work to finalize them. There is no deadline for putting them in place.
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