title: Youth access laws: in the dark at the tanning parlor?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare laws governing youth access to UV irradiation at indoor tanning facilities with laws governing youth access to tobacco.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tobacco and UV irradiation youth access laws were assessed via correspondence with public health offices and computerized legal searches of 6 industrialized nations with widely differing skin cancer incidence rates.
  
  
  METHODS
  National, provincial, and state legal systems in Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Public health, legal, information science, and medical professionals and government and tanning industry representatives.
  
  
  METHODS
  Statutes specifying age restrictions for the purchase of indoor tanning services or tobacco products.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 5 English-speaking countries with common law-based legal systems unilaterally prohibit youth access to tobacco but rarely limit youth access to UV irradiation from tanning salons. Only very limited regions in the United States and Canada prohibit youth access to indoor tanning facilities: Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and New Brunswick prohibit tanning salon use by minors younger than 13, 14, 16, and 18 years, respectively. In contrast, French law allows minors to purchase tobacco but prohibits those younger than 18 years from patronizing tanning salons.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Youth access laws governing indoor tanning display remarkable variety. Uniform indoor tanning youth access laws modeled on the example of tobacco youth access laws merit consideration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and Department of Dermatology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, 80262, USA. robert.dellavale@uchsc.edu
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Dellavalle
authors.forename: Eva R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cersonsky
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Hester
authors.forename: Bragg
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hemme
authors.forename: Diane L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Burkhardt
authors.forename: Alan K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Schilling
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001505:Beauty Culture / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002170:Canada; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007878:Legislation as Topic; D012907:Smoking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014481:United States