title: Youth indoor tanning and skin cancer prevention: lessons from tobacco control.
abstract: Youth use of ultraviolet-emitting indoor tanning beds represents a present and emerging public health crisis. Nearly 30% of white female high school students report tanning indoors, and a quarter of high school tanners have used a tanning bed more than 20 times in the past year. Despite the significant health risks of tanning beds, including potentially deadly melanoma and eye problems, limited actions have been taken in the U.S. to protect youth. Tobacco control policies and campaigns, which have sharply reduced youth smoking, may provide a useful framework to control indoor tanning among young people. This article describes several evidence-based tobacco control strategies with potential applicability to indoor tanning within the context of the U.S. Further, current tobacco control policies and current indoor tanning policies in the U.S. are compared, and recommendations on how to curtail youth indoor tanning are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Andrew B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Seidenberg
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Aditya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mahalingam-Dhingra
authors.affiliation: Dermatoepidemiology Unit, Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Department of Dermatology, Rhode Island Hospital; Departments of Dermatology and Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
authors.forename: Martin A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Weinstock
authors.affiliation: Cancer Prevention Centre, Cancer Council Victoria, Carlton, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sinclair
authors.affiliation: Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts. Electronic address: aseiden@live.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Alan C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Geller
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D033242:Minors / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011634:Public Health; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055108:Sunbathing / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014481:United States