Indoor Tanning Beds

Public Health Problem Radiation is described as energy that is commonly found in x-rays, nuclear power plants, radioactive materials, sunlight, and in many more sources according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2015). It can be used as a tool to diagnose and treat diseases. Although there are benefits of radiation, great exposure to radiation is a concern that may be linked to mutations, health problems, and even cancer. This is a problem in today’s society due to the social norms that influence the youth on beauty standards, which can lead to different forms of health issues. Indoor tanning beds have been very popular amongst young adults and used extensively to obtain different skin tone colors of their preference;

It is important to address the long term effects instead of gratifying the short term results. An intervention study was conducted with the purpose of educating and enhancing parent to children communication about indoor tanning (Lazovich, Choi, Rolnick, Jackson, Forster, Southwell, 2014). The researchers informed the parents and children of the risk factors involved and distributed pamphlets for the groups to read on their own time. It was found that over half of the mothers and daughters reported to recall information and acknowledged that they read the pamphlet, but little to no fathers and boys recalled the information or reported reading the pamphlet. It was proven to be successful amongst the female counterpart to reduce the likeliness of indoor tanning. Although the males in this study were not proven successful, men aren’t the primary target and have a much lower rate of tanning. However, it is still very important to educate the public and enforce the regulations and policies on indoor tanning. The Federal Trade Commission has been charging the indoor tanning agencies for making false claims on their advertisements on the benefits of indoor tanning. They were forced to remove these ads or face more charges (Szabo, 2014). By educating the public on the truth, it will make others more knowledgeable about the harmful effects of radiation

People that are exposed to indoor tanning have a 75% increase in the risk of melanoma according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (FDA, 2013). By raising the prices of indoor tanning, either by tax or direct fees, it would discourage adolescents from being inclined to tan despite the social norms. If it is made less readily available to the youth, they will be less likely to tan, thus preventing the problem of radiation exposure. In 2010, a 10% excise tax was induced on indoor tanning services in Illinois (Jain, Rademaker, & Robinson, 2012). It was believed that their number of clients would decrease after imposing the new tax law. A study was conducted in Illinois as this federal law was implemented and it found that after the tax increase, salons found a 26% decrease in clients. This shows the benefits of increasing taxes in order to improve the health of the common