Suffolk County, NY Chapter 772 Tanning Facilities

[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.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

Sale of drinking games to minors — See Ch. 294, Art. III.

Body piercing — See Ch. 330, Art. I.

Drugs and drug products — See Ch. 423.

Tobacco products — See Ch. 792.

§ 772-1 Legislative intent.

A. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to regulate the use of tanning facilities by persons under 18 years of age.

§ 772-2 Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

PERSON

Individual.

TANNING FACILITY

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.

ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION DEVICE

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.

§ 772-3 Use restrictions and prohibitions.

[Amended 6-27-2006 by L.L. No. 36-2006]

A. 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. No person under 14 years of age shall be permitted to use a tanning device in a tanning facility in the County of Suffolk.

§ 772-4 Facility requirements.

[Amended 6-27-2006 by L.L. No. 36-2006]

A. 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. 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.

§ 772-5 Penalties for offenses.

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.

§ 772-6 Rules and regulations.

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.

§ 772-7 Applicability.

This chapter shall apply to actions occurring on or after the effective date of this chapter.

§ 772-8 Reverse preemption.

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.