Outcomes of solarium industry efforts to improve compliance with recommended practices: a clear case for formal regulation

Abstract

Industry attempts to delay enforced regulation of solarium operators via committing to self-education are not likely to produce a substantial or a sustained increase in protection for solarium users.

Compliance with age and skin type restrictions following the introduction of indoor tanning legislation in Melbourne, Australia

“…It is unlikely that the improvements in compliance were a result of spontaneous industry‐led self‐education since the previous study. A study conducted in a neighbouring state in the same year as the previous Melbourne study showed similarly low levels of compliance ; when the study was repeated three years later following a targeted self‐education intervention by the sunbed industry, little evidence for significant improvements in compliance was found .…”

“…However, a study conducted in 2003 in Melbourne, Victoria found that 90% of operators granted access to potential customers with poor tanning ability, and 52% allowed a 16-year-old posing as a potential customer to use the facilities without parental consent (38). Similar poor compliance was reported by studies in other states, even where specific educational interventions were conducted with operators (17,(39)(40)(41)(42).…”

“…Some evidence has indicated that education may have the potential to reduce the exposure of these high‐risk groups to artificial UV, in particular education of adolescent sunbed users or their parents , as opposed to industry‐led education of sunbed operators . However, legislation has been suggested as the most effective whole‐population strategy .…”

A narrative review of the potential for self‐tanning products to substitute for solaria use among people seeking a tanned appearance

“…In the United States, regulations vary by state, with 36 states having some restriction on access for those aged under 18 . In Australia, commercial use of solaria will be banned from 31 December 2014 in four of eight states and territories following increasing levels of regulation over the past decade , and the documented shortcomings of voluntary regulation .…”