Indoor tanning
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer, but it’s also one of the most preventable. Exposure to UV rays – whether from the sun’s rays, tanning beds or sun lamps – increases the risk for non-melanoma and melanoma skin cancers. There is no safe way to get a tan. To reduce your risk of getting skin cancer, do not use artificial tanning equipment such as tanning beds or sun lamps.
Indoor tanning and young people
Because indoor tanning is especially harmful to young people, the Canadian Cancer Society believes that:
- People under the age of 18 should not be allowed by law to use indoor tanning equipment.
- Indoor tanning advertising aimed at people under the age of 18 should be banned.
What needs to happen
- Federal, provincial and territorial governments should regulate the indoor tanning industry by requiring the registration of tanning beds and sun lamps, licensing of staff and regular inspection of equipment and premises.
- Tanning equipment should be labelled in a way that clearly explains the health risks.
- The indoor tanning industry must stop using misleading phrases such as safe, no harmful rays, no adverse effects or similar wording.
Local legislation
In June of 2010 the Manitoba legislature passed legislation providing for some degree of regulation of the tanning industry. This was an important step as there has been no regulation of the indoor tanning industry despite the known cancer-causing effects of indoor tanning equipment.
But the Manitoba Division of the Canadian Cancer Society believes the requirement of parental consent for minors using indoor tanning equipment and the posting of warnings about the dangers of indoor tanning provides only a “good first step” in protecting the public from a known cause of cancer.
Given the startling facts and the science that links the use of indoor tanning equipment with an increased risk of developing melanoma skin cancer, the Society does not believe Manitoba’s current legislative framework goes far enough to protect Manitobans, and particularly minors, from the dangers of indoor tanning.
The Canadian Cancer Society believes that, just as minors are banned from the sale of tobacco products, so too should minors be excluded from using indoor tanning equipment. The Society continues to work with the government urging it to follow other jurisdictions as soon as possible and implement a ban on indoor tanning for minors.