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Report: Teen Law Not Working?

Friday, March 25th, 2016

Oregon’s ban on UV tanning in salons for under-18 customers is in fact driving teens into unregulated home tanning units, The Oregon Statesman-Journal reported months after the law went into effect in 2014.

“Young girls intent on indoor tanning before a prom or beach vacation still are slathering on indoor tanning lotions and getting permission from their physicians to use tanning salons,” the Statesman-Journal reported. “Some adolescents who can’t afford a doctor’s visit indeed are staying away from commercial tanning beds, but instead are using their own unregulated personal ones, which has created a drop-off in business that is harming smaller, individually owned tanning stores, and creating a tanning culture that is unintentionally unregulated.”

Oregon’s under-18 ban went into effect Jan. 1. The American Suntanning Association, in calling for higher-level, cooler-headed discussion of all UV-related policies, lobbied lawmakers in 31 states in 2013, asking them to consider surveys showing that two-thirds of under-18 clients will tan more aggressively outdoors or will purchase home tanning units if told they can no longer tan in salons with their parents’ consent. ASA has continued to work with legislators since to shape legislation on this topic.

bildeLance Donnelly, owner of Oregon-based salon chain Tan Republic, told the Statesman-Journal he worries about unintended health consequences of the new Oregon law. “I fear the new law will force 17-year-olds who are planning a trip for spring break or going to a prom to go out and use personal tanning beds and get fried, which is absolutely the worst outcome. I don’t think that’s what the Legislature had in mind.”

The state does allow teens to tan if they have a doctor’s permission. The state has a form on its web site for that purpose. Donnelly reported that many doctors and teens are already using the form.


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