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FDA Gets Tough on Tanning Beds
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The FDA wants to send a stronger message that tanning beds are bad for your health. The federal agency issued a new multipronged proposal this week aimed at requiring manfacturers to test and certify the ultraviolet light machines' design and performance. The FDA also wants to put warning labels on all tanning beds recommending that they not be used by those under 18 and that all users get regular screening exams for skin cancer. Mayo Clinic pediatric dermatologist, Dawn Davis, M.D., calls the proposal a huge victory for public health.
// SOT (Dr. Dawn Davis/Mayo Clinic Pediatric Dermatologist) "Tanning beds are dangerous and they are currently labeled a Class One device, meaning they don't need to have any regulations top be put on the market and be put into use by the public. That's the same thing as Band-Aids, gauze, tongue depressers and other benign things we use in the office." [TRT :16]
Dr. Davis says making tanning beds a Class-Two device identifies them as posing a potentially moderate risk to the public, which she says they certainly do when it comes to skin cancer.
/// SOT (Dr. Dawn Davis/Mayo Clinic Pediatric Dermatologist) "Anyone who uses a tanning bed has an increased risk of melanona, a 75% increase. That is very substantial because melanoma is on the rise, and it is a common and potentially lethal or deadly skin cancer." [TRT:12]
The FDA is giving the public 90 days to speak up and post coments on the proposal, and Dr. Davis says she strongly encourages people to write the FDA supporting the changes.
