Health: FDA Announces New Warnings Must Be On Tanning Beds

By Stephanie Stahl

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- More restrictions for indoor tanning. The Food and Drug Administration today announced new warnings that will have to be on tanning beds.

New Jersey's so called tanning mom was criticized for bringing her six-year-old daughter into a tanning bed, but now the FDA says they shouldn't be used by anyone under the age of 18.  It's the first time the agency is requiring tanning bed manufacturers to warn consumers that they can cause cancer and those warning labels will also include the age restriction.

"It's fantastic and a long time coming," says Dr. Joseph Sobanko a Dermatologist at Penn Medicine. He thinks the new FDA restrictions on tanning beds will save lives. "We have data showing a direction relationship between tanning beds and melanoma, a 70 percent increased risk," Dr. Sobanko says.

Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, has been increasing especially among young women. "If people knew the results of getting melanoma they wouldn't even go into a tanning bed", says Sherrill Rigney who lives in Bear, Delaware.  She says her daughter Michelle fought a brave and difficult battle against melanoma that eventually killed her.  She said, "How you take a perfectly healthy 19-year=old and watch them die? It's just  unbearable, really and all of it could have been prevented."

In addition to the new federal regulations there are a variety of state laws restricting minors in tanning beds.  The Indoor Tanning Association says is disappointed with the FDA regulation that puts another layer of regulation, costs and difficulty on an already struggling industry.

For more information on the FDA announcement, click here.