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SALT LAKE CITY — Around 100 advocates, survivors, students and others impacted by cancer gathered at the Capitol Friday to educate legislators about a bill that would prevent minors from using tanning beds even with a parent’s consent.
Chatter rebounded off the walls of the rotunda as people huddled in small circles to discuss strategy while preparing to meet with lawmakers about HB34, which would ban minors from tanning beds. Some clutched folders with talking points and meandered around tables while others printed their personal stories on pieces of paper.
Their goal was simple. Share their stories about cancer’s impact and why they believe the legislation matters.
The group’s advocacy coincided with the Senate Business and Labor Committee’s consideration of the bill that afternoon. However, following a lengthy discussion, the committee decided to reconsider HB34 at a later date after legislators raised concerns over its enforceability.
Jen Tischler, Utah grassroots manager for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, told the Deseret News the group wanted to focus its efforts on thanking the representatives who already pushed the bill through the House and on educating senators about the legislation, particularly the ones who considered the bill Friday afternoon.
Tischler said one of the most powerful parts of the organization’s yearly advocacy effort is seeing the change in participants’ countenances as they realize their story matters and they can make a difference by speaking to their legislators.
“For people who’ve lost someone to cancer or has had cancer — that’s a never-ending event, and that’s a big wound. This is a way to live on for that person or take a piece back from cancer,” she explained.
She acknowledged that HB34 has had a challenging path forward, which is why it’s important for “more people to represent Utah to tell legislators that this is an issue we care about.”
The legislation originally failed in the House 42-33 on Jan. 27, but bill sponsor Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, managed to successfully revise it by wrangling enough votes from GOP lawmakers despite their concerns about the government overstepping into parental rights.
The original draft of the bill would have also banned tanning for minors even with a doctor’s note, but Daw presented a version of the bill that removed this provision. The revised bill passed 41-31.
Brook Carlisle, government relations director with Cancer Action Network, believes the bill would “absolutely” make a difference in preventing skin cancer.
She said Utah has the highest rate of melanoma in the country, emphasizing that using a tanning device before age 35 increases the risk of contracting the disease by 59%.
Utah wouldn’t be alone if lawmakers passed HB34. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia already have a similar law in place.
“We know that they work. The highest tanning device use rates are among high school girls,” Carlisle said. “States that have laws like the one we are proposing, those girls tan 47% less than states that don’t have similar laws.”
She reiterated these points Friday afternoon as she aided Daw in his presentation to the committee.
There, Carlisle pointed out that despite the documented risks of tanning, usage remains relatively high among high school girls.
Daw told the committee that similar legislation has been bounced a couple of different times in the Legislature during previous years, but back then he opposed them “vigorously.”
That opinion shifted over time.
“At this point in my mind, the science and the data is absolutely settled. The very first time you go in to tan, you cause permanent damage to your skin and you up the risk of skin cancer significantly,” Daw said.
He explained that like many of his colleagues, his concerns came from the idea of taking the right of a parent to choose whether or not their child can tan. But when he thought about it more and asked himself questions working toward the core of the issue, that started to change.
“What exactly is the right we are extending or taking away? The right to do unintended, permanent, guaranteed damage to your child’s skin for no, and I mean no, real benefit?” Daw said, pointing out any cosmetic appearance changes are temporary and provide no “protection whatsoever.”
One woman, Huntsman Cancer Institute nurse practitioner Melissa Shepherd, spoke to the committee about her experience surviving melanoma after a childhood in and out of tanning beds.
Shepherd, whose mother managed a tanning salon, started tanning as a 9 year old. Growing up in Alaska where indoor tanning “was rampant” because of the cold and darkness, she was allowed to tan as she wished.
But at age 30, that led to a melanoma diagnosis which “resulted in multiple surgeries and a year’s worth of chemotherapy-like treatments.”
Shepherd told the committee she wanted to provide them with the insight of a teenage girl, pointing out that when she was young she doubted she would have stopped tanning just because someone told her that doing so would increase the risk of getting skin cancer.
“To me this seems a no-brainer,” Shepherd said. “I don’t look at this as a restriction, this is getting our kids so they don’t have to make this choice until they are developed into the point that they can make these decisions with equating long term consequences.”
Sen. Jacob Anderegg, R-Lehi, raised the first concern against the bill, questioning how banning minor use of tanning beds would be effective as teens can still soak up rays outside if they wished.
“It’s not that I disagree with the science or the testimony at all. It’s a practical application of how this will actually affect people in the real world,” he explained.
Anderegg said that his understanding is that as bad as tanning beds are, prolonged exposure to the sun without sunblock is even worse.
Brian Shiozawa, a former Utah senator and physician at University of Utah Health, countered that, saying intensity of the ultraviolet light in tanning beds is much stronger than it would be “walking out into the backyard.”
“No, you aren’t going to save everybody. People will still get skin cancer, but you are going to save a very tangible, measurable amount of the patients and fellow citizens,” he said.
Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, also raised concerns about how the bill would be enforced. He pointed out that the bill doesn’t include a fiscal note to address additional enforcement.
These concerns were echoed by Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City, who also questioning whether local health departments would be willing to enforce the legislation.
Daw said he suspects they would be, however, it was not something they’d explicitly discussed, though if local health departments were worried about enforcement he thinks they would have mentioned it during their preliminary discussions about the legislation.
Upon the committee’s encouragement, Daw said he would go back to speak with the health department about enforcement and compile a bit more information.
