Enacting legislation to restrict youth access to tanning beds: A survey of advocates and sponsoring legislators
Accepted 3 September 2009. published online 12 March 2010.
Background
Passing tanning bed legislation restricting underage use has remained challenging.
Objective
We sought to determine the resources required to pass tanning bed legislation restricting use to children and identify key barriers to its passage.
Methods
A total of 15 states sought to pass tanning bed legislation in 2006; in-depth surveys were completed with advocates in 10 states and legislators in 5 states.
Results
Advocates sought advice from the sponsoring legislator or legislators (n = 9), held discussions with other organizations (n = 8), and used a lobbyist (n = 5). The 3 major barriers were strong lobbying efforts by the tanning bed industry (n = 10), proceedings after the bill was filed (n = 5), and obtaining support from other organizations (n = 4). For legislators, the most significant barrier was making colleagues aware of the health effects of tanning bed use.
Limitations
Five of 10 legislators and 10 of 15 advocates responded to the survey.
Conclusion
Barriers to passage of tanning bed legislation can potentially be surmounted with advice to advocates and coordinated efforts by multiple organizations.
aBoston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
bDivision of Public Health Practice, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
cInstitute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Reprint requests: Marie-France Demierre, MD, FRCPC, Skin Oncology Program, Department of Dermatology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston University Medical Center, 720 Harrison Ave, DOB 801A, Boston MA 02118.
Supported in part by a 2007 American Academy of Dermatology Minority Mentorship Award to Busayo Obayan.
ABSTRACT