Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Minimal Erythema Dose (MED) Testing
Published on: May 28, 2013
Youth access to artificial UV radiation exposure: practices of 3647 US indoor tanning facilities
Latrice C Pichon1, Joni A Mayer, Katherine D Hoerster
1Graduate School of Public Health, 9245 Sky Park Ct, Ste 220, San Diego, CA 92123, USA.
Objective:
To assess indoor tanning facility practices in a sample of facilities in 116 cities representing all 50 states.
Design:
Cross-sectional study.
Setting:
United States.
Participants:
Employees of 3647 indoor tanning facilities were contacted by telephone. Data collectors (ie, confederates) posed as prospective, fair-skinned, 15-year-old female customers who had never tanned before.
Main Outcome Measures:
Confederates asked respondents about their facility's practices related to parental consent, parental accompaniment, and allowable tanning session frequency.
Results:
Approximately 87% of the facilities required parental consent, 14% required parental accompaniment, 5% said they would not allow the confederate to tan owing to her age, and 71% would allow tanning every day the first week of indoor tanning. In Wisconsin, which bans indoor tanning among those younger than 16 years, 70% of facilities would not allow the confederate to tan. Multivariate analyses indicated that facilities in states with a youth access law were significantly more likely to require parental consent (P <.001) and parental accompaniment (P <.001) than those in states without a youth access law. Law was not significantly related to allowable tanning frequency (P = .81). Conclusion We recommend that additional states pass youth access legislation, preferably in the form of bans.
Related Concept Videos
Mutations
Chromosomal Alterations Are Large-Scale Mutations
While point mutations are changes in a single nucleotide in...
Mutations
Acne Infection
Skin Cancer
Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC): BCC is the most common type of skin cancer, accounting for about 80% of cases. It typically develops in...
Pigmentation
Melanin occurs in two primary forms: eumelanin that provides black and brown pigment and pheomelanin that provides red color. Dark-skinned individuals produce more melanin than those with pale...
Role of Skin in Vitamin D Synthesis
The solar UV B rays (290-315 nm) are absorbed by the skin, and 7-dehydrocholesterol (provitamin D3) photolyzes it to previtamin D3, which undergoes a rapid transformation to vitamin D3(cholecalciferol).

