Sanitarians' work with indoor-tanning businesses: Findings from interviews in two major metropolitan areas

In spite of potential health risk, indoor tanning is a popular practice and a growing industry. Although published studies indicate that tanning businesses' compliance with regulations is poor, no studies describe enforcement activity and the related knowledge and perceptions of environmental health professionals. As part of a larger study of indoor tanning in Minnesota and Massachusetts, both states will statutes that regulate tanning, the investigation reported in this paper involved interviews of 27 sanitarians in the Twin Cities and 30 sanitarians in the Boston metropolitan area about their awareness, experiences, and practices. Overall, Massachusetts performed better than Minnesota with respect to familiarity with regulations (93 percent versus 67 percent), routine-business inspections (90 percent of agencies versus 27 percent), and priority given by agencies to indoor-tanning work-differences likely attributable to a stronger state statute. Participants in both state, however, recalled few aspects of the regulations and were able to identify few of the health risk associated with indoor tanning, and most reported receiving inadequate training. Various steps must be taken to improve environmental health work with tanning businesses, including educating the public, strengthening regulations, addressing resource issues, and training sanitarians.