Parental Permission Soon Required at Tanning Salons

Tanning salons like this one in Oxford will soon be required to keep records of parental permission for teens under 17 using tanning beds.

A new law aims to trim the number of teens using tanning salons. MPB’s Cari Gervin has more.

Gretchen Mueller just turned 19. She’s been going to a tanning salon almost every week for the past year, since she first went to get a base tan before going a cruise.

"I don’t like to go ‘til I’m like orange or anything. I know it’s bad for me. I try to not go that often. I wouldn’t say that I’m, like, addicted to it like some people say that they are."

Mueller is just one of thousands of teens who regularly use tanning salons in Mississippi. But starting July 1, anyone under 17 will have to get a parent’s written permission to do so. And anyone under 13 will have to be accompanied by a guardian to use a tanning bed.

Over 25 states across the country have passed similar laws. According to government figures, skin cancer rates among young women in the U.S. have increased 50 percent since the 1980s.

Sabra Sullivan is a Jackson dermatologist who helped get the legislation passed. She says that she’s seen clients as young as 15 with melanomas and compares the cancer risks of tanning beds to that of cigarettes.

“I’m a physician. If I use something like this as part of medical therapy, I have to keep meticulous records. All this is doing is asking a parent to be there or at least be aware of what their child is doing and to hopefully become more informed of the risk they’re facing.”

For anyone who uses a tanning bed, Sullivan recommends using a sunscreen of at least 30 SPF that has UVA and UVB coverage applied 20 minutes before exposure.

For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin in Oxford.