Moving the Needle in South Carolina: Two Pending Bills in the Pursuit of Spreading Awareness About Practicing Safe Skin
Things are heating up in South Carolina, home of one of IMPACT’s esteemed Hub Cities, Charleston. South Carolina has been in the news recently for tanning bed use legislation that’s been presented by South Carolina’s chapter of the American Cancer Society and endorsed by the South Carolina Children’s Hospital. The proposal is to ban the use of tanning beds for children under the age of 18.
- According to the World Health Organization, people exposed to UV radiation from indoor tanning beds have a 59% increased risk of getting melanoma.
- Tanning beds expose you to 3-6 times the radiation of the sun.
- 2.5 million teens use tanning beds each year.
The following is a discussion between American Cancer Society’s Beth Johnson and SC Children Hospital’s Maggie Cash, who are spearheading the charge to make a great IMPACT in their community.
What led you down the road of pursuing legislation in South Carolina prohibiting the use of tanning beds for underage kids?
Beth Johnson: South Carolina has seen a steady increase in melanoma incidence rates over the past five years according to the 20th anniversary Cancer Report produced by the SC Cancer Alliance and the SC Cancer Registry. We also know that if we can prevent teen tanning we have the potential to impact this rate.
Maggie Cash: We work closely with (the SC Chapter of the American Cancer Society) on multiple pieces of legislation, and we were more than happy to sign on in support of this bill. (American Academy of Pediatrics supports it as well.)
What have the challenges been? What keeps you pushing forward?
Cash: Challenges: Lack of awareness about the dangers and the science behind the medical recommendations. There is still widespread perception that tanning bed use is no more dangerous than lying out in the sun, even despite general awareness that too much sun can cause skin cancer. Another challenge was the perception by several legislators that that 16 and 17 year old children should be able to tan in a tanning bed.
Johnson: Legislators are claiming we are taking away personal liberties from teenagers by prohibiting them to tan in tanning beds. Our argument is we don’t allow minors under 18 to smoke and tobacco and UV radiation from tanning beds are on the same carcinogenic level so why do we allow them to tan?
Cash: What keeps all of us going is that we know – and we have the science to prove it – that it’s the right thing to do for kids.
Johnson: Agree… if we can potentially prevent anyone from hearing the words “You have cancer” then we have to try…
The State reported that South Carolina teenaged females utilizing tanning beds is 16% higher than the national average, which is actually pretty staggering. Why do you think that is?
Johnson: We did a map of where tanning beds are located compared to high schools and it was interesting to see close to most high schools in our state lies a tanning bed facility… Check it out here.
Cash: I have no idea why that is the case. But I’ve also never understood why Florida has so many tanning salons!
What did you think about the comments made by State Rep, Jonathan Hill?: “When you start taking options away from people, I mean, where does it stop?” Hill said after the meeting. “I’m all about protecting life. … (But), it simply isn’t possible for us to regulate away any danger of ever getting cancer. We’re not going to end cancer by regulation.” (Read full article here.)
Cash: I disagree with his statement. We can, through effective public policy, greatly reduce the incidence of cancers that are proven to be preventable – such as skin cancer. Through public policy on seat belts, for example, we’ve greatly reduced mortality from motor vehicle accidents.
Johnson: We have already seen a decline in cancer incidence and mortality rates by working on public policies that not only educate the general public but provide measures to prevent them from being exposed to cancer causing agents. As an example, tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of death in our country. When we work on tobacco control policy efforts we see a direct impact on the number of lung cancer cases, COPD, heart disease, birth weight and health baby outcomes. This goes to show you that we can potentially end some cancers through policy change.
How has IMPACT Melanoma helped facilitate your initiatives? Have you pointed to their successes in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts (and beyond)?
Johnson: IMPACT Melanoma is a national partner with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and we work closely with them around the country. We appreciate their support.
The bill just got pushed forward to the full house. When does that vote take place? What are you doing to help prepare for that “final decision”?
Johnson: We will continue to educate members in the House on the danger of teen tanning and help them understand that tanning and tobacco are on the same carcinogenic level.
Cash: As the House begins its debate on the state budget bill next week, it will likely be on the House floor for consideration the week of March 18th.
What else are you working on to create skin safe practice awareness amongst the citizens of South Carolina?
Cash: Education with patients and parents at pediatric health visits.
Johnson: Education with our partners like the Children’s Hospitals and AAP members in SC.
###
A second bill starting to take shape in Charleston, SC is being put together under the tutelage of The Spa at Belmond Charleston Place and I Will Reflect Director, Annette Sandford-Lopez. Lopez is motivated and excited to be working on a proposed bill with the South Carolina Legislators alongside Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), IMPACT Melanoma, and several local dermatologists.
In trying to do some good for the community, IWR ran into a snag which the bill is positioned as a response to.
Said Sandford-Lopez:
The IWR (www.iwillreflect.org) program is The Charitable Arm of the Spa at Belmond Charleston Place. It was founded over 10 years ago with the aim of educating the folks in the Lowcountry about the dangers of too much sun exposure.
Two years ago to help us bring this message to fruition we formed a partnership with the non-profit IMPACT Melanoma (IM) who had already established in several States in the US a like-minded educational program. One of the key components of their program was the placement of sunscreen dispensers on beaches/parks/schools offering free sunscreen lotion to the public.
We all know sunscreen is absolutely imperative to have on our person every day, no exceptions! Our first and foremost concern was to increase awareness about using a daily sunscreen while enjoying the great outdoors in Charleston. To launch this campaign, we worked with the City of Charleston’s Recreation and Parks team last year to install sunscreen dispensers in 26 strategic, diverse locations in DT Charleston (10 of which are at the River Dogs Ballpark and 1 at the Lowcountry Children Museum). The units dispense free sunscreen lotion to the public. This year 5 units will be funded and placed on the MUSC campus.
The installing of sunscreen dispensers and/or the use of sunscreen lotion in schools is of particular importance to me. As I visited many schools in the Charleston area, I was struck by the fact that children were being sent out at recess during the midday sun with no sun protection. Exposure to the sun during daily activities causes the most sun damage and overexposure to sunlight before age 18 is most damaging to the skin. Unfortunately, getting a sunburn just once every 2 years can triple one’s risk of melanoma, and this fact applies to everyone not only children. There is nothing that is more critical than the prevention of skin cancer considering that data from the CDC and NCI demonstrate coastal counties in South Carolina have higher rates of skin cancer than many other counties in the state. New data, released by Blue Cross Blue Shield Health of America in 2018, showed Myrtle Beach has 6.1% of the state’s skin cancer diagnoses. Charleston follows closely with 6% and Columbia is third with 4.3%.
As mentioned above, IWR’s goal for 2019 is to install sunscreen dispenser units (provided through private donations) at schools offering free sunscreen lotion to children and teachers alike. However, they came across a bit of a block (no pun intended…); the fact that the sunscreen lotion is considered an “over the counter” product and not allowed in or to be used at school… this might seem strange, but it’s a reality! We all recognize the serious and timely need for children to be protected from the harmful rays of the sun, but being deemed as an OTC is problematic and, in this instance, counter-productive.
Our mission is to present a bill to the SC legislative body to create a uniform policy for all school districts regarding the use of sunscreen lotion in schools. Also, the bill would be entirely budget-neutral since the school does not necessarily have to provide sunscreen; it’s only removing the barrier from students possessing and applying it at school or school-related events.
There’s a lot of action happening in South Carolina, and we at IMPACT Melanoma are happy to be in full support of both causes!
How can you help bring awareness and better sun safety to your community? Contact us today. Let’s talk through it and come up with creative ways to make sure everyone is protecting the skin they’re in!
