Tanning bed regulations beaming down on teens

Mike Sapecnik is not against rules for teens using tanning beds.

But the tanning salon owner is definitely not in favour of a proposed province-wide ban on young people accessing the service he provides.

"I don't agree with banning 18-or-under, I think [requiring] parental consent would be better, because there are a lot parents who want their kids to pre-tan before they go on trips," said Sapecnik, who owns Awesome Tan on Westwood Drive.

"It is true, kids nowadays think they are invincible and think they can handle more than they can, so I think some regulation would probably be good on their part."

In fact, he thinks legislation is inevitable.

The provincial government has hinted regulations are on the way with the release next month of the findings of the Indoor Tanning Working Group, a three-month study commissioned by the province in response to a Union of B.C. Municipalities resolution to bring in tanning bed regulations.

"I think it's clear that there is a strong desire to regulate access that minors have to tanning beds," Health Minister Mike de Jong told the Vancouver Sun. "I think that debate has evolved to a choice between requiring specific parental consent or an outright ban."

Sapecnik says he strongly cautions minors who request long tanning sessions to consider the safety hazards and the cumulative long-term effects of exposing themselves to ultraviolet radiation.

"You try to explain to them that it's not just here and now but later on in life that it affects you," he said. "That's what kids don't understand. It's the same thing with smoking. They think it won't affect them, until later on when they've got lung cancer or emphysema."

Sapecnik estimates less than 10 per of his tanning salon clients are under the age of 18. He sees more teens in late spring during the high school graduation period when students want tans to make them look better for their graduation ceremonies.

Melanoma, the most deadly kind of skin cancer, is the third-most common type of cancer for people aged between 15 and 29, according to the Canadian Cancer Society. A University of Minnesota study concluded people under 30 who regularly used tanning beds were 75 per cent more likely to develop skin cancer than people who did not tan indoors.

Nova Scotia is the only province to ban minors from tanning beds.

"We know that there is no safe way to get a tan and that any use of tanning equipment before the age of 35 can increase a person's risk of getting melanoma," said Kerensa Medhurst, a health promotion co-ordinator for the Canadian Cancer Society. "With teens still accessing tanning beds, we have our work cut out for us."

Some local high school students have joined the second annual province-wide

Tan-Free Grad Challenge to try to educate fellow students on the dangers of ultraviolet radiation from the sun and tanning beds and are trying to convince students to forego their "prom tans."

"By sharing the tan-free message student-to-student, we're hoping to make a greater impact and get more peers on board," said Chantelle Jimenez, a Grade 12 student at Prince George secondary school, one of 30 schools involved in the Tan-Free promotion.