Tanning on Trial
For years the indoor tanning industry told customers its beds were safe, healthy, even cancer-fighting. Regulators have taken those claims to task. Injured customers have had a much harder time.
The industry's own trade group: FTC, 2010
In March 2008 the Indoor Tanning Association, the U.S. industry's trade group, launched an advertising campaign that portrayed indoor tanning as safe and beneficial. In January 2010 the Federal Trade Commission charged that the ads falsely:
- denied that indoor tanning increases the risk of skin cancer;
- claimed indoor tanning was approved by the government;
- claimed it was safer than tanning outdoors because the exposure is "controlled";
- suggested vitamin D supplements may harm the body's ability to fight disease.
The association settled without admitting wrongdoing. It is barred from making those claims, must back up any future health or safety claims, and certain future ads must carry a clear warning that UV exposure can cause skin cancer and serious eye injury. Ads about vitamin D must state that you don't need to tan to make vitamin D.
Dr. Joseph Mercola's tanning beds: FTC, 2016
Osteopathic physician and online supplement seller Dr. Joseph Mercola and two of his Illinois companies sold home tanning beds costing $1,200 to $4,000. In April 2016 the FTC charged that they falsely claimed the beds were safe and would not raise, and might even lower, the risk of skin cancer including melanoma. The FTC also said they falsely implied the FDA endorsed indoor tanning as safe, and failed to disclose that they had paid the Vitamin D Council for its endorsement.
Under the settlement Mercola and his companies are banned for life from marketing or selling indoor tanning systems. In February 2017 the FTC mailed refunds totalling about $2.59 million to more than 1,300 buyers. Mercola remains a prominent promoter of vaccine misinformation; see our sister site QuackeryWatch.
State attorneys general
- Texas, 2013: Darque Tan, a Houston-based chain with about 60 locations, paid nearly $142,000 to settle Attorney General Greg Abbott's charges that it falsely advertised vitamin D benefits and a lower cancer risk.
- New York, 2016: After an investigation that began in 2013, the state attorney general reached agreements with tanning companies including Total Tan (salons in upstate New York and Pennsylvania), which was accused of promoting tanning for vitamin D and as a treatment for disease, downplaying cancer risk, and not providing free eye protection as required. It agreed to stop the health claims, with penalties of $5,000 a day for future misrepresentations. In December 2016 Manhattan's Portofino Spas agreed to $300-a-day penalties for future misrepresentations and violations of state tanning law; the owner said the company admitted no wrongdoing and paid no fine.
When customers sue
Individual lawsuits by people who developed melanoma are rare, and hard to win. In a 2013 case in Pittsburgh, Powell v. Instant Replay Video (Instatan) et al., a woman diagnosed with melanoma in 2009 sued nine salons, saying she had tanned 400 to 500 times over about nine years without being properly warned. The jury found for the salon that went to trial. The defence argued that:
- her many atypical moles, not the tanning, explained her melanoma risk;
- the beds carried the FDA-required warning labels beginning with "DANGER";
- her own dermatologist testified she had warned her about UV at least three times.
Melanoma has several causes, so proving that one salon's beds caused one person's cancer is difficult. That is why warning labels, consent forms and waivers matter so much to the industry, and why regulators and public-health laws, not lawsuits, have done most of the work.
If you think a tanning salon harmed you
- Keep everything: membership contracts, receipts, session logs or loyalty cards, consent forms, and screenshots of ads or social-media posts making health claims.
- Get copies of your medical records, including the dates of diagnosis and any doctor's notes about your tanning history.
- Note whether you were a minor when you tanned, and whether the salon asked for ID or parental consent. Canadian provinces now ban or restrict tanning for minors.
- Talk to a lawyer who handles personal-injury or product-liability cases; many offer a free first consultation.
- Report false health claims to your provincial public health unit, the Competition Bureau of Canada, or in the U.S. the FTC and your state attorney general. And tell ISCAN.
This is general information, not legal advice.
More from the 2026 Watch
Sources
- FTC: Indoor Tanning Association settles FTC charges that it deceived consumers (Jan 2010)
- FTC: Deceptive "safe" indoor tanning claims burn consumers (Mercola, Apr 2016)
- Legal Newsline: FTC to mail refunds to 1,300 consumers affected by alleged Mercola tanning deception
- High Valley Dermatology: Texas company fined for false tanning claims (Darque Tan, 2013)
- WXXI News: NY attorney general says tanning company will drop health claims (Total Tan, Aug 2016)
- Patch: Murray Hill tanning salon not allowed to lie, attorney general announces (Portofino Spas, Dec 2016)
- Rawle & Henderson: Defense verdict in melanoma litigation, Allegheny County (2013)
This page is consumer information, not personal medical advice. If you have a new or changing mole, see a doctor or dermatologist. Last updated 2 November 2026.