By James Martin
The Utah County tanning industry felt the heat from the Board of Health on Monday as they passed regulations tightening the health code for tanning salons.
The new code will require the installation of remote timers, additional thermometers and floor mats. Salons may need to get new beds altogether ? if existing ones are deemed an ?eminent health risk? by inspectors.
The program manager of Infectious Disease Control, Ron Tobler, was instrumental in the creation of the regulation. He presented it to the Utah County Board of Health in a near empty public meeting. The board passed the proposal unanimously with no opposition from the public.
?I have actually been involved in cases where people sat down on a cracked tanning bed, breaking through the acrylic and onto the bulbs, which exploded under pressure,? Tobler said. ?Then you really get to find out how good your friends are because of the glass you need picked from your body.?
The new regulation covers more than just cleaning and maintenance of tanning salons. In specific circumstances, it regulates who may use the salons.
Pregnant women will no longer be able to use tanning beds unless given permission by their doctor.
Tobler explained the destructive power UV rays have against folic acid in the body, and the particular danger of low folic acid in pregnant women. He presented a study done in Europe that showed three children born with spina bifida because of a reduction in folic acid from heavy use of tanning beds during pregnancy.
Tanning is so unsafe that the FDA legally forbids the use of the terms safe, healthy, safer than the sun, etc. in conjunction with tanning.
The board also discussed a future amendment that would prohibit tanning for minors, or at least minors without parent permission. Board members mentioned that there are already other cities and states across the nation that regulate tanning for minors.
According to an article published in the Deseret Morning News, a New York legislator plans to propose that a parent must accompany anyone 16 and younger to the salon, and anyone 17 or 18 would have to have parental consent.
However, board only made an amendment restricting pregnant woman. The board said they may discuss an age requirement in the future.
Cathy Habing, the owner of Club Tan in Provo, said her salon already follows the new regulations.
?If you?re running a tanning salon the way it should be run, then what they?re changing is not that big of a deal,? she said. ?It?s just that they?ve been trying to get salon owners to do a few things, and they haven?t complied so the board of health is adding an amendment.?
The regulation applies not only to businesses, but to some private tanning bed owners as well. Previously, owners who had beds in their own homes could open them up to the public, so long as they weren?t charging for the use of the bed. But according to the new edict, that is now illegal. The use of a private tanning bed must be kept private.