Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to make America’s teens tan again.
To the dismay of dermatologists, Kennedy abruptly withdrew a proposed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule in March that would have banned minors from using indoor tanning beds.
Nearly a dozen states ― including California, Illinois, Minnesota, as well as Washington, D.C. ― already ban the use of tanning beds for minors. Several other states ― Kentucky, Idaho, Indiana and Michigan ― require written consent from a parent or guardian.
The federal rule, first proposed in 2015, would have required anyone over 18 who goes to a tanning salon to sign a waiver acknowledging the risks, including skin cancer, severe burns, and other early skin aging.
“As a dermatologist, this decision is deeply disappointing and frankly dangerous,” said Anthony Rossi, a dermatologist, professor and researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
“This rule took many years to get traction, and now it’s been pulled. That’s not deregulation, that’s a step backwards for children’s health,” he told HuffPost.
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the U.S. Tanning beds can emit up to five to 15 times more concentrated ultraviolet (UV) radiation than the midday sun. This intense exposure directly damages skin cell DNA, triggering mutations that cause those cells to multiply uncontrollably and turn cancerous.
As the Bulwark noted, the proposal the FDA pulled was similar to the FDA’s initial move to ban youth cigarette sales back in 1997. (UV radiation is a carcinogen in the same class as cancer-causing substances such as tobacco and asbestos.)
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“Walking that protection back at the federal level sends a confusing message, especially right now when melanoma is one of the most common cancers we see diagnosed in young adults aged 15 to 29,” said Danilo C. Del Campo, a dermatologist at Chicago Skin Clinic.
The FDA’s notice, signed by Kennedy, said the move “does not mean that exposure to UV radiation does not cause skin cancer.” But Kennedy ― who has been spotted frequenting tanning salons around D.C. ― has previously said that he wants to end the government’s “aggressive suppression of … sunshine,” without specifying what exactly that means.
What makes the FDA’s ruling especially alarming, Rossi said, is the timing. It comes as followers of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement increasingly embrace the idea of building a “solar callus” through gradual sun exposure instead of using sunscreen, which many in the movement see as unnecessary.
On TikTok, MAHA anti-sunscreen advocates blithely share conspiracy theories that sunscreen causes cancer and was created as a ploy by pharmaceutical companies to boost profits and sicken people.
Young people in general are eschewing sun safety measures, not just MAHA followers. A 2025 survey by the American Academy of Dermatology found that nearly 60% of Gen Zers believe at least some tanning myths, including the belief that getting a base tan will prevent skin from sunburn and that you need to build up your “sun tolerance.”
“There are real indications that tanning is making a comeback among teens and young adults, driven by content on TikTok and social media,” Rossi said. “So we have a generation that’s already confused about sun safety, already backing away from sunscreen, and now we’ve removed a key federal guardrail that would have protected them in tanning salons.”
A 2025 study found that melanoma rates among people who frequent tanning salons were more than double (about 5% compared to about 2%) than those who did not. Using tanning beds before age 20 can increase the risk of developing melanoma by nearly 50%, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
“Walking this protection back at the federal level sends a confusing message, especially right now when melanoma is one of the most common cancers we see diagnosed in young adults aged 15 to 29,” said Danilo C. Del Campo, a dermatologist at Chicago Skin Clinic.
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Using tanning beds before age 20 can increase the risk of developing melanoma by nearly 50%, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
What Dermatologists Think Of MAHA’s Tanning Logic
The dermatologists we spoke to had plenty to say about MAHA’s “solar callus” ― or “sun tolerance” ― theory, which holds that gradually building up a “base tan” helps the skin tolerate sun exposure without burning.
“There is a small kernel of physiologic truth here that is being stretched into something it is not,” Del Campo said. “Yes, repeated UV exposure causes the skin to produce more melanin, and yes, that pigmentation does offer a tiny amount of protection against future burning. But a tan is your skin telling you it has been injured. It is a damage response, not a shield.”
“Solar callus” is a made-up, non-medical term.
“It’s not a recognized dermatologic concept. You will not find it in any textbooks or peer-reviewed literature,” Del Campo said. “It is essentially a marketing phrase that has taken on a life of its own through social media.”
Rossi stressed, too, that a tan is not protection; it’s evidence of real damage.
“Especially if you get red or pink or burn before,” Rossi said. “Your skin tanned because DNA injury already occurred. The melanin response is reactive, not preventive. An SPF equivalent of a deep tan is roughly SPF 3-4, which will not protect from another burn.”
And when we consider tanning beds and the intense, short burst of UV exposure they emit, this whole theory loses credibility, Rossi said.
“Tanning beds primarily emit UVA rays, not UVB. UVA penetrates deeper into the skin, directly damaging the DNA in deeper dermal layers where melanomas originate,” he explained. “UVA also causes immediate pigment darkening as a response to the harmful rays.”
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Dermatologist Anthony Rossi likes to say that lying in a tanning bed is the equivalent of sitting outside at the equator at high noon.
In spite of what’s spouted on TikTok, that so-called “base tan” does nothing to protect you.
“The ‘base tan’ they say they’ve built offers essentially no protection against UVB burning the next time they’re actually outdoors,” he said. “They get the cancer risk without even getting the burn signals that might make them stop.”
Rossi likes to say that lying in a tanning bed is the equivalent of sitting outside at the equator at high noon. With his younger clients and Instagram followers, he tries to impress a smarter approach to the sun.
“The message I always come back to is this: you can be outside, enjoy the sun, wear sunscreen, be exposed to vitamin D, and live your life. That’s healthy,” he said.
“What is not healthy is manufacturing UV exposure through a machine that delivers it at 15 times the intensity of the sun, calling it wellness, and giving that access to teenagers,” he said.
Del Campo had the same attitude.
“Most dermatologists are not telling people to live like vampires,” he said. “We just want patients to be smart about prolonged or intense UV exposure, particularly from tanning beds, where the wavelengths are concentrated in a way that natural sunlight is not.”
