Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about tanning equipment because it’s time that we have some type of discussion on tanning beds, booths, lamps and their use for cosmetic purposes. The public discussion and information is really required.
It’s an issue brought forward to me by a number of constituents who have had grave cause in some of the recent findings, because tanning devices, as we know them, do cause cancer. The World Health Organization officially classified them as a carcinogenic item back in 2009.
The average person doesn’t know that some tanning beds emit ultraviolet radiation five times more intense than the midday summer light. Research has also told us that they’ve found that a person’s risk of getting skin cancer increases by 75 percent if they use these tanning beds before the age of 35. Naturally, Canada has guidelines for tanning gear, but not much in the way of regulation, so responsibility is really left up to the customers and some of the organizations that run these things. Studies, of course, show that tanning beds are particularly – and I stress particularly – risky for children who use them, but again, we don’t have any laws to prohibit that.
So many jurisdictions have banned or even restricted the use of tanning beds for young people and I’ll point out a few. Around the world we have places like Nova Scotia, Australia, and even France who have thought about this and taken serious steps to provide measures to protect our young people. It’s time maybe that the Government of the Northwest Territories finally consider some type of regulation on this type of industry to protect our folks who are young.
This gives us a chance to come up with some guidelines and public discussion on ensuring that our people under the age of 18 are protected. Adults can obviously make their own minds up and use the equipment as they feel they can, and certainly most of our adults are in a position to understand the risks, but I would say that it’s time that the Health Minister come forward with some type of discussion to make sure our youth are protected.
Justifiably, there are many laws on our books that are there to protect our young people until they are reaching an age where they can make smart and responsible choices on their own. I think the tanning bed equipment should be one more of those issues added to the list that puts our young people ahead of personal vanity.
Later today I will have questions for the Health Minister to see what he will be willing to do on this particular subject.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
