Nearly 40 percent of tanning salons ignore state laws governing teen use

Nearly 40 percent of indoor tanning facilities ignore state laws that curb teen tanning, a new survey finds.

To protect teens, most states have laws that prevent or create obstacles to using tanning salons, but nearly 2 million high school kids still get indoor tans, said the researchers who conducted the survey.

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has classified tanning beds as cancer causing," said the survey's lead researcher, Dr. Erik Stratman, a dermatologist at the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wis.

Indoor tanning is particularly dangerous for young people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, because it increases their risk for melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer.

Banning indoor tanning for teens might prevent thousands of melanomas and melanoma deaths and the millions spent on treatment, Stratman said.

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