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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah teens would have to be accompanied by their parent or guardian each time they go to a tanning salon, just as if they were going to a doctor, under a proposed law that advanced out of committee Thursday.
After often-emotional testimony from several survivors of melanoma skin cancer, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted 4-1 to pass SB41 on to the full Senate.
Proponents told the committee that the measure is needed to combat a high rate of melanoma — the most dangerous form of skin cancer — among Utah teenagers.
But Brian Moser, the owner of tanning salons in Layton and Roy, said the problem needs enforcement, not more laws.
"Because enforcement (of current laws) has not occurred, they want to put into place another law," Moser said.
Since 2007, Utah law has required a parent to sign an annual release form with a tanning salon before a teen may use its services.
Moser said his salons go even further, letting parents note on the form how often a teen may have tanning sessions. His establishments also use computer software that pops up to remind salon operators when a patron is underage, he said. And he requires workers to pass an online, open-book exam on tanning safety, he added.
"The salons that are doing it right should not be penalized by the ones that are not doing it right."
But the sole tanning salon operator was no match to the several experts lined up to testify in favor of the new restrictions.
Dr. Sancy Leachman, a Park City dermatologist specializing in melanoma and other skin cancers, told the committee that 30 percent of frequent tanners are "tanning addicts."
UV light causes an "endogenous opioid release" that acts like taking a drug, Leachman said. "The purpose of this bill, ultimately, is to reduce death from melanoma."
Salt Lake City surgical oncologist, Dr. Robert Andtbacka, told legislators that melanoma was once a disease traditionally seen in older people — men on the face and arms and women on the lower extremities. But it's now the second highest cause of cancer among 15- to 29-year-olds in Utah, he said, and tends to appear throughout the body.
And Utah — in part, due to its high altitude, high population of fair-skinned northern European descendents, and outdoor lifestyle — has the fourth highest per capita rate of melanoma in the nation, Andtbacka said.
The risk of melanoma increases 75 percent with tanning bed use before the age of 30, he said. The tanning devices, which are classified as carcinogens by the World Health Organization, can provide UV radiation 10 to 15 times that of the sun, he added.
"This is truly an epidemic. This is what I see every day," he said. "Many of (my patients are young children and many of them die."
Each of the three Republicans on the panel noted that the proposal went against their beliefs in limited government intervention, although two of them voted to pass the bill out.
"My neighbor can't force me to stop doing something," argued Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, who cast the only dissenting vote. "The social contract just does not allow that."
Requiring parents to attend each tanning session "is demeaning to parents," Madsen said. "I don't think it empowers parents. It burdens them."
Should the state require people to wear sun block with a certain SPF while they're outside? he asked.
But Sen. Luz Robles, D-Salt Lake City, countered, saying that just as with alcohol and tobacco use, underage tanning has costs to the larger community, such as those associated with medical care and premature death.
"This is a public health crisis," Robles said. "I hope my colleagues join me in stopping this madness."
Sen. Stuart Reid, R-Ogden, also said he was torn in deciding how to vote on the bill.
"My natural proclivity is to support business; my natural proclivity is to support liberty … my natural proclivity is not to get too protective with parents," Reid said.
And he always loved his wife being tanned. "The first time I met her, she was very tan," Reid said. For many years, he encouraged her use of tanning salons.
Recently though, she began to notice little prickly red spots around her neck, and last week a dermatologist told her they were "pre-cancerous," Reid told the packed committee room.
"I heard her on the phone the other night to tell our daughters, 'stop tanning.'"
Email:lbrubaker@ksl.com
