Should Tanning Salons Be Banned?

Abstract

Tanning salons are a one billion dollar business each year in the United States. Over one million people a day visit the 21,000 tanning establishments in this country in search of the perfect tan, paying four to twelve dollars per session. The salons are particularly popular with women and the young; one study showed that 33% of girls and 16% of boys over fifteen years old have visited a salon. One million Americans are "tanning Junkies," visiting tanning salons at least one hundred times per year. Despite their popularity, these salons have been widely criticized by the medical profession. In 1992, the American Academy of Dermatologists expressed concern that the medical community was "losing ground" to a culture that believed the salons were safe. The Academy offered two solutions to the problem: banning the salons altogether, or regulating them more strictly. The House of Delegates of the American Medical Association issued a similar recommendation just last month. This paper critiques the proposed solutions of the American Academy of Dermatologists and the American Medical Association. Part I explains how tanning salons are presently regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and state laws. Part II analyzes the arguments for and against a ban of these salons, and concludes that such a ban would be inappropriate. Part III uses the arguments articulated in Part IV to suggest specific changes to the federal regulation of tanning salons to make such regulation more effective.