Tanning Bed Legislation for Minors: A Comprehensive International Comparison

Abstract

Tanning beds have been classified as carcinogenic to humans. As a result, many countries have enacted laws regulating the use of commercial tanning beds, including bans for minors. However, there is no international overview of the current legal status of access restrictions for minors that provides details on their specific design regarding age limits and possible exceptions to the statutory regulation. Therefore, we performed a comprehensive web search of current tanning bed legislation for minors on the three continents North America, Australia, and Europe. Our findings regarding the existence and concrete design of access restrictions are presented graphically, using maps. We found a wide variety of different legislations. In Australia, a total ban on tanning beds exists, while in New Zealand, tanning bed use is banned for minors. In Europe, about half of the countries have implemented a strict ban for minors. In North America, we found differences in the age limit for access restrictions between the states, provinces, and territories for those regions that implemented a ban for minors. In the United States, some states have rather “soft bans” that allow use by minors with different types of parental consent. The patchwork in legislation calls for harmonization. Therefore, our comparison is an important starting point for institutions such as the World Health Organization or the European Commission to advance their goals toward a harmonization of tanning bed legislation in general and for minors in particular.

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“…In the European Union, no country has applied a total ban on tanning beds, as was done in Australia. However, the majority of European countries, including Lithuania, have implemented strongly limiting access restrictions for minors such as a strict ban for using tanning beds for persons younger than 18 years [ 16 ].…”

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“…International regulations on access of minors to sunbeds vary considerably across Australia, Europe and North America (reviewed by Diehl et al, in 2022) [ 69 ]. In Australia, there is a total ban on commercial tanning beds, including for minors.…”

“…Twenty-five states have a ‘soft ban’ including access restrictions to minors and the requirements of parental/guardian consent or presence at the tanning salon. In Canada, out of the 12 provinces and territories, 10 have introduced a strict ban for minors under the age of 18 or 19 [ 69 ]. A web registry of indoor tanning legislation is provided by the National Conference of State Legislatures in the US.…”

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“…Although, many European countries have implemented tanning bed access restrictions for minors. 10 Importantly, in the United States, the prevalence of adults utilizing tanning beds dropped significantly in states that passed legislation prohibiting youth from indoor tanning, likely due to fewer minors carrying this practice forward into adulthood. 12 In states that did not pass legislation, adult prevalence of indoor tanning bed usage did not significantly decrease.…”