Teenagers might soon be shut out of tanning salons if some city councillors are successful in lobbying the provincial government to put an age restriction on tanning beds for youth 18 years old and under.
The potential ban is based on a report to the community and prtective services committee from the Canadian Dermatology Association. The report suggests young people who get sunburns from ultraviolet radiation (UVR) are more vulnerable to skin cancer – especially the more aggressive melanoma – later in life. It calls on all levels of government to prohibit youth from tanning beds, that expose their skin to UVR.
Natalie Kennedy, owner of A Touch of Sun Tanning Studio on Slater Street, says legislators aren’t getting all the facts.
Only a small percentage of Kennedy’s clients are 18 or younger, and they aren’t her regulars. They usually come in for a one-time event like graduation, and sometimes to help treat acne.
Approximately 50,000 students in Grades 7 to 12 use artificial tanning equipment in Ontario.
The highest percentage of use being among girls in Grades 11 and 12, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
Kennedy says it’s important to have tanning salons act as buffer zones between these young people and the sun.
She informs all her clients about responsible tanning and protecting their skin from UV exposure, and often clarifies misconceptions like having to burn to get a tan.
“It kind of scares me that they’re not allowing these younger people to come into the salons because they’re just going to be outside burning themselves up in the real sun,” she says.
“If they come in and tan with us, they’re only exposed for minimal, minimal periods of time, whereas out in the sun they never know what they’re getting.”
Although Kennedy checks the age and skin type of all her clients, a survey in 2007 by the Ontario branch of the CCS found that 60 per cent of tanning salons did not ask the age of young people coming in.
This is not the case for Paul Haddad, from Artistics-Hair-Esthetics-Tanning, who already restricts anyone under the age of 19 from tanning at his salon.
Sunburst Tanning Centre on Bank Street, managed by Lise Chevalier, will tan teens but only with permission from their parents.
Chevalier, her mother and her three sisters have all survived cancer.
“If tanning would be harmful for cancer then there’s no way in hell that we’d go lay down under those lights,” she says.
“But it’s like anything else in life, anything you overdo you’re going to cause yourself problems, everything has to be moderated,” she added.
The motion to ban younger people from tanning salons was rejected at a recent city council meeting.
The vote, however, pressured the province to act on a private member’s bill that calls for an age ban.
The bill has been stalled for a year.
Bay Coun. Alex Cullen, who supported the motion, says it would be easier to go through the city rather than write to the province because it licenses tanning salons.
“We’ll see what the letter does. If it produces results at the province that’s great, if not then we’ll be back at it here because the issue’s not going away.”
He also wants to collaborate with Ottawa school boards to make their students more aware about risks involved with sun tanning.
Kennedy thinks the tanning salons already do a good job educating teens.
“We’re very responsible, and I think that we’re there to help guide these people,” she says.
“I think putting a ban on it is not necessary whatsoever.”
This summer the World Health Organization moved tanning beds up to a type-one carcinogen, alongside tobacco smoke and mustard gas.
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer among Canadians, and in 2006 accounted for about one third of all new cases.