In two states where legislatures are considering bills to restrict teenage access to UV tanning services, two salon owners stepped up to write prominent op-ed pieces to promote balance in coverage on sun exposure.

Smart Tan member Dana Pierce, owner of Turbo Tan in Concord, New Hampshire, penned an op-ed after testifying at a Senate hearing on under-18 legislation where bill proponents compared the risk of UV exposure to smoking.

Bob Ashe, Joe Levy and Dana Pierce, on the steps of the New Hampshire capitol in Cocord, NH. March 24 after fighting against legislation that would restrict under-18 UV tanning.

“To lead people to think that moderate exposure to indoor UV light at a very controlled, FDA-regulated level is as detrimental to teens as tobacco or alcohol consumption is irresponsible and demonstrates a complete lack of common sense,” Pierce wrote. “The most dangerous part of UV exposure is overexposure. This happens all the time when people, including teens, go outdoors without adequate protection. In the long term, this is indeed damaging to your skin and health. However, to think that banning indoor tanning is the answer to preventing the occurrence of melanoma is misguided and incorrect. The answer is more education.”

Here’s Pierce’s op-ed.

Pierce and Smart Tan member Bob Ashe, owner of Sun Seekers Tanning in New Hampshire, are coordinating a legislative battle against the teen tan ban, working with Smart Tan’s Joseph Levy to fight legislation in the New Jersey senate.

Levy serves as scientific advisor to the American Suntanning Association, which provided support to Pierce and Ashe, including sending Levy to Concord twice this year to fight the ban bill.

In Iowa, Steve Scott, who owns several Soleil Tan Spa locations in Iowa with his wife Linda, penned an op-ed in The Des Moines Register following an anti-tanning article written by a college student appeared in the Register without any input from the tanning community. Scott convinced Register editors that wasn’t fair.

His op-ed discusses the elements of Sun Scare.

“During the past 10 years, the public has been overwhelmed with messages advocating that sunlight is deadly and that tanning beds are killing machines. So prevalent have become these messages that the effort is referred to as the ‘Sunscare Campaign.'” Scott wrote. “Yet these claims are never accompanied by scientific evidence. The fact is that the groups advocating Sunscare have much to gain financially.”

Here’s Scott’s op-ed.

The American Suntanning Association has lobbied the Iowa legislature to stop “Sun Scare” and overstatement as it pursues legislation — telling legislators the past two years the industry will work with them to address the issue only if advocates of under-18 ban legislation stick to the facts and stop spreading “Sun Scare.”