Petition Update

We Are Urging the FDA to Ban Teen Tanning

The Skin Cancer Foundation and Refinery29 have teamed up to save lives, with a petition telling the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to finalize a rule banning indoor tanning for teens.

Background: The FDA regulates products that emit radiation, including tanning beds, which use mostly ultraviolet A (UVA) light to develop a tan. In December 2015, the FDA proposed a rule that would prohibit people under the age of 18 from using tanning beds and require adult users to sign a risk acknowledgement certificate before their first use of a tanning bed and every six months after that. Almost eight years later, the FDA has still not finalized this rule. In the meantime, millions of people in the U.S. continue to use cancer-causing tanning beds, including thousands of teens.

Goal Met!

With your amazing support, we were able to surpass our goal, getting 7,500 signatures on our petition.

We have sent the official letter, with our signatures, to Washington DC, and are pushing to get this rule finalized. In early 2024, the FDA moved the proposed rule that would ban minors from tanning into the final rulemaking stage. Stay tuned for updates. As we learn more, we will share it here.

View the petition and signatures as of September 2023.

We’re Not Done Yet

Since this issue is so important, we are keeping the petition open and will send additional signatures in an addendum. Thank you for all you have done to move this crucial rule toward finalization. Add your name: Sign the petition below.

The Skin Cancer Foundation and Refinery29 won’t be satisfied until the FDA completely bans tanning beds in the U.S. Still, enacting this rule would be an important step forward in the fight against skin cancer.

“Tanning is not worth what your life becomes
when you’re diagnosed with cancer.”

– Chelsea Dawson, former teen tanner and melanoma survivor

Sign the Petition

Tell the FDA to Ban Teen Tanning

The Skin Cancer Foundation and Refinery29 are teaming up to save lives. Sign the petition telling the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban teen tanning.

The Skin Cancer Foundation and Refinery29 won’t be satisfied until the FDA completely bans tanning beds in the U.S. Still, enacting this rule would be important steps forward in the fight against skin cancer. Sign the petition to ban teen tanning.

“Tanning is not worth what your life becomes when you’re diagnosed with cancer.” – Chelsea Dawson, former teen tanner and melanoma survivor.

FDA: Please Finalize Rule to Ban Teen Tanning

Robert M. Califf, M.D., Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
10903 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20993

Dear Commissioner Califf:

In a coordinated effort of The Skin Cancer Foundation and Refinery29, part of the VICE Media Group, we the undersigned respectfully urge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take suitable actions to finalize the proposed rule entitled General and Plastic Surgery Devices: Restricted Sale, Distribution, and Use of Sunlamp Products (Docket No. FDA-2015-N-1765) published by the FDA in the Federal Register on December 22, 2015 (80 Fed. Reg. 79493).

The dangers of indoor tanning are well documented. Indeed, the FDA acknowledged this when the agency reclassified sunlamp products from class I to class II high risk medical devices in 2014. Tanning bed use drastically increases skin cancer risk, including the risk for potentially deadly melanoma. In fact, a 2016 study published in the JAMA Dermatology found that of 63 women diagnosed with melanoma before age 30, 61 of them — 97 percent — used tanning beds.

Over the years, The Skin Cancer Foundation has heard from hundreds of former tanning bed users who are fighting skin cancer. Many lament that they did not fully understand the risks they were taking.

By finalizing the proposed rule, the FDA can curb tanning habits among Americans and significantly reduce the incidence of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers in the United States.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent public health matter.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]