Teens under 18 will be banned from tanning beds

By Cindy E. Harnett, timescolonist.com

January 13, 2011 5:50 AM

People younger than 18 will be prohibited from using indoor tanning beds after Vancouver Capital Regional District politicians voted 18-1 in favour of a ban Wednesday.

Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Richard Stanwick recommended the ban, which was debated by more than 40 speakers — almost evenly divided on the issue — during a 4 1⁄2-hour hearing.

Most of the politicians based their support on the testimony of youth in favour of the ban and the preponderance of peer-reviewed scientific evidence linking indoor tanning and skin cancer.

Juan de Fuca electoral area director Mike Hicks said he expects similar laws soon will be common across Canada.

Nova Scotia recently passed legislation that will ban the use of tanning beds for anyone 18 or younger.

It will be a huge pity, Hicks said, if the ban doesn't sweep "like wildfire across Vancouver Island, B.C. and Canada."

The lone dissenter was Metchosin Mayor John Ranns, who said the age limit for the ban should be 16 rather than 18.

The tanning industry mounted a powerful lobby against the proposal — even though it says youth account for just one per cent of its business — and blamed skewed science for the ban's approval.

Under the bylaw, tanning facility operators will be required to ask for ID from anyone who appears to be younger than 25. Contraventions will carry penalties from $250 to $2,000.

Stanwick, who originally recommended the indoor tanning bylaw in 2005, was elated Wednesday. "I'm so impressed," Stanwick said. "I was hoping that what happened in 1996 would happen again today — and it did."

That's the year young speakers persuaded the CRD, which had just voted to impose a sweeping smoking ban in all indoor public places effective Jan. 1, 1999 — then the strictest regulation in the country — to take extraordinary measures to protect youth by enforcing a smoking ban on school property as of September 1996.

Once again, "it wasn't my presentation, it wasn't the duelling scientists. It was that our directors saw the real promise for this region — that is our youth," Stanwick said. "They spoke eloquently, they spoke to a generational change and we were the supporting cast. It was the youth that drove this process."

Oak Bay Secondary School student Martene Hartnell delivered 300 signatures in support of the ban and an accompanying video. Earlier, the tanning bed industry submitted 800 names against the ban.

Adele Green of the University of Victoria's Youth Against Cancer said the ban decision is "a big weight off our shoulders. I'm very happy today."

Saanich Coun. Judy Brownoff said if the ban prevents even one person from dying of melanoma, it's a success. Studies by a variety of health agencies, including the Canadian Medical Association, have shown a direct link between artificial tanning at an early age and skin cancer.

In September, the New England Journal of Medicine wrote: "We believe that regulation of this industry may offer one of the most profound cancer-prevention opportunities of our time."

ceharnett@timescolonist.com
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