UNC student brings tanning beds under fire at Chapel Hill Town Council

In July, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a call to action to prevent skin cancer by raising awareness of the major health problem.

On Monday, UNC junior Alana Zeitany, a nutrition major, took up the call by petitioning the Chapel Hill Town Council to consider a motion to prohibit the offering of free tanning beds by apartment complexes in Chapel Hill.

Zeitany surveyed apartments over the summer to see if they offered free tanning to their residents, and presented her findings to the town council at a meeting on Monday night.

“I think taking up the call to action is really important in a town like Chapel Hill where we have such a great school of public health and a great medical school,” she said. “We can be a leader in curtailing such a risky behavior.”

Though she herself used tanning beds throughout middle and high school, Zeitany learned of the dangers of indoor tanning beds from her sister, a medical school student interested in dermatology.

When touring apartments to live in for her sophomore year, Zeitany said she saw many of the newer apartments offered free tanning as an amenity.

“My mom made the comment, ‘that should be illegal because that is so unhealthy,’” Zeitany said.

At the meeting, Zeitany said 26 percent of Chapel Hill apartments offer free tanning as an amenity. These include the new, highly-sought after apartments like Shortbread Lofts and LUX at Central Park and older, luxury complexes like The Warehouse Apartments and Chapel Ridge Student Housing.

Zeitany said one apartment complex, which she did not name, did not even follow state regulations on the practice of indoor tanning.

Zeitany said this complex allowed anyone to come to the desk and use the tanning bed, even if they are not residents of the apartment.

“I wonder what the appropriate response is in view that state regulations are not being enforced,” said council member Maria Palmer.

In 2009, the World Health Organization classified indoor tanning devices as Class I human carcinogens based on evidence linking the beds to an increased risk for skin cancer.

“At a bare minimum, I will recommend the town council form a committee to study this practice,” Zeitany said in her written petition.

The apartment that does not follow state regulations was of particular concern to the town council.

The council voted to receive the referral which would allow town staff to look further into the issue.

Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said Zeitany’s petition raised awareness on an otherwise unnoticed issue.

“This has elevated the conversation in the community.”

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