[HISTORY: Adopted by the Suffolk County Legislature 9-27-2005 by L.L. No.
29-2005 (Ch. 454 of the 1985 Code). Amendments noted
where applicable. Uncodified sections of local laws amending these
provisions are included at the end of this chapter.]
A.Â
This Legislature hereby finds and determines that the United States
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and numerous leading United States
health-care organizations estimate that approximately 1,000,000 Americans
each year will be stricken with skin cancer, a potentially deadly
disease, and the most common of all types of cancers.
B.Â
This Legislature also finds and determines that melanoma is more
common than any non-skin cancer among women between 25 and 29 years
of age. Nationally, one person dies of melanoma every hour.
C.Â
This Legislature further finds and determines that the FDA, joined
by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the United States Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and numerous leading United
States and international health-care organizations, discourages the
use of tanning beds and sunlamps, and has concluded that indoor tanning
can be as harmful as outdoor tanning, and that perhaps more than 1,000,000
people in the United States alone visit tanning salons each day on
the average.
D.Â
This Legislature finds that tanning devices in salons, tanning parlors,
spas, and similar settings that emit mostly UVA light are in no way
less harmful alternatives to the sun's rays, insofar as UVA rays
penetrate deeper than UVB rays, causing damage to the underlying connective
tissue as well as to the skin's surface.
E.Â
This Legislature determines that currently there is no repair treatment
available for reversing the brutal effects of UVA and UVB rays on
the skin, and that basic, minimally intrusive, public education to
prevent such damage before it occurs is the best approach to maintaining
public health of the citizens of Suffolk County.
F.Â
This Legislature also finds that the patronizing of tanning facilities
has become increasingly popular among teenagers and young adults who
are a vulnerable segment of our society in that they are unaware of
the long-term risks and health effects of repeated use of these facilities.
G.Â
This Legislature further finds that the Colette Coyne Melanoma Awareness
Campaign began in 1998 in response to the death of an exceptional
thirty-year-old woman named Colette Marie Brigid Coyne, who contracted
melanoma at an early age. The Colette Coyne Melanoma Foundation is
dedicated to increasing public awareness regarding the dangers and
causes of skin cancer and to changing attitudes and behaviors towards
unsafe tanning and sun exposure. The Foundation has begun to achieve
these goals through the education of parents and children in our schools,
public recreational facilities and community-based organizations.
H.Â
Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to regulate the use of
tanning facilities by persons under 18 years of age.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Individual.
Any establishment where one or more ultraviolet radiation
devices is used, offered, or made available for use by any human being,
for which a fee is charged, directly or indirectly, but shall not
include any facility where any such device is used by a qualified
health-care professional for treatment of medical conditions.
Any equipment which is designed to emit electromagnetic radiation
in the wavelength interval of 200 nanometers to 400 nanometers in
air, and which is intended to induce tanning of the human skin through
irradiation, including, but not limited to, a sunlamp, tanning booth,
or tanning bed.
[Amended 6-27-2006 by L.L. No. 36-2006]
A.Â
No person who has reached his or her 14th birthday but have not yet
reached his or her 18th birthday shall be permitted to use a device
in a tanning facility in the County of Suffolk unless he or she is
accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
B.Â
No person under 14 years of age shall be permitted to use a tanning
device in a tanning facility in the County of Suffolk.
[Amended 6-27-2006 by L.L. No. 36-2006]
A.Â
Each tanning facility must comply with the provisions of state law, as it relates to the posting of warning signs, the availability of educational information on the health risks associated with the use of a tanning facility, and the use of proper eye protection by each patron, and shall post a sign advising patrons of the prohibitions contained in § 772-3 of this chapter, which sign shall contain letters of no less than 1/2 inch on a contrasting background.
B.Â
Any advertisement, coupon, flyer or other printed material paid for,
produced, published or distributed by, or on the behalf of, any tanning
facility shall contain the following warning: "Tanning Increases Your
Risk of Skin Cancer." This warning shall be displayed conspicuously
on the advertisement, coupon, flyer or other printed material in such
a way as to be clearly legible.
Any tanning facility which knowingly and willfully violates § 772-3 of this chapter shall be subject to a fine of up to $500 for the first offense, not less than $750 nor more than $1,000 for a second offense, and not less than $1,000 nor more than $1,500 for the third and for each subsequent offense.
The Suffolk County Department of Health Services shall promulgate
such rules and regulations as it deems necessary and appropriate for
the implementation and enforcement of any provisions of this chapter.
This chapter shall apply to actions occurring on or after the
effective date of this chapter.
This chapter shall be null and void on the day that statewide
or federal legislation goes into effect incorporating either the same
or substantially similar provisions as are contained in this chapter,
or in the event that a pertinent state or federal administrative agency
issues and promulgates regulations preempting such action by the County
of Suffolk. The County Legislature may determine, via mere resolution,
whether or not identical or substantially similar statewide legislation
has been enacted for the purposes of triggering the provision of this
section.