As a father, I know how attractive tanning beds can seem to youth who want tan skin all year round. My wife strongly discouraged my daughter while she was growing up from using tanning beds because she was concerned about her risk of getting skin cancer. That's why I was fully supportive and very excited about a historic new law California enacted this month that bans the use of tanning beds for those under 18. ACS CAN was heavily involved in the campaign to get the bill signed last year, engaging in activities such as emails and calls to all California legislators involved. We believe no one under 18 should be allowed to use tanning beds the risks are just too high. In 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer raised their rating of indoor tanning equipment from probably carcinogenic to humans to definitively carcinogenic to humans. Melanoma incidence rates have been rising for the past 30 years. An estimated 75,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with melanoma this year and 12,000 people will die from the disease. It's important to ensure our children are protected early on because individuals who use indoor tanning devices at a younger age have a 75% increased risk for melanoma and a 69% increase of early onset basal cell carcinoma than those who never use indoor tanning. What's even more exciting is that a number of states are following California's lead and attempting to enact similar laws. States considering a ban on tanning beds for people under 18 this session include New York, Illinois, Oklahoma, New Jersey, West Virginia, Idaho, Utah, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Our staff and volunteers in these states are ready to support these initiatives and safeguard more of our nation's children from the damaging effects of indoor tanning. Do you think a law like California's would be beneficial for protecting the children that live in your state? *Image retrieved from: http://bit.ly/ylEYto and http://bit.ly/xZSgNg
Even as Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, ACS CAN will keep working year-round, across the country and with both state and federal lawmakers, to advance the public policies we know will reduce the burden of breast cancer.