The FDA Is Rolling Back Tanning Bed Protections — A Melanoma Survivor Responds

For those of you who have followed me for a long time, you may remember that I'm not only a melanoma survivor, but I was involved in legislation in Kansas that banned tanning beds for people under 18. This latest FDA decision to weaken tanning regulations has me furious.

Tanning in children and teens is particularly dangerous for two reasons:

1. If you start early, you're more likely to continue as an adult — meaning decades of exposure to a known carcinogen
2. Early exposure dramatically increases your risk of skin cancer, particularly melanoma, which is the most deadly form of skin cancer

There is no known benefit to indoor tanning. It's purely cosmetic. And before someone brings up psoriasis — medical phototherapy is something completely different. That's a controlled medical treatment, not a tanning bed session.

What makes me angry about the FDA's statement is the reasoning: requiring tanning salons to keep children safe is apparently "too burdensome" for small businesses.

I heard the same argument when I was fighting to get the Kansas ban passed. I was speaking at what I believe was the Health and Human Services Committee alongside a surgical oncologist, representing the American Cancer Society. The Indoor Tanning Association's representative and a couple of tanning salon owners were there — and their only argument was that we were "taking food away from their children" by closing salons.

They don't care about the health and safety of children. They care about making money. And apparently, so does the FDA.

Deregulating pesticides and carcinogens — are we healthier now? This is something so many of us have worked on for years, trying to get protections passed across the country to keep children safe from a known carcinogen. Rolling these protections back is the exact opposite of making America healthier.

Please talk to your children about the dangers of tanning. Indoor tanning isn't as common where I live now on the West Coast, but it's very common in the Midwest and the South. It is horrific for your skin and your health.

Please don't allow your children to expose themselves to a carcinogen. It's just not worth it.