Preventing Melanoma, Preserving Life

Eric Cornatzer cited melanoma research in his quest to limit adolescents’ access to tanning beds through state legislation.

When he looks ahead to his future as a practicing dermatologist, Eric Cornatzer, third-year medical student, says,  “I don’t want to have to tell a 30-something mother of two young kids that she has melanoma, a disease that is probably going to take her life within five years...

“I don’t want to have to tell her that she probably won’t be around to celebrate her kid’s sweet-16 birthday, or see her graduate from high school or get married.”

Especially when there’s something he can do about it. 

What he’s done is help draft and support a bill, presented to the 2007 North Dakota legislative session, aimed at regulating under-18-year-olds’ access to tanning parlors, a $5 billion industry in the U.S.  Exposure to electromagnetic radiation in tanning beds is believed to significantly increase one’s risk of developing melanoma, a very serious form of skin cancer. 

“Melanoma is one of the most horrible diseases out there,” Cornatzer says.  “The chemotherapeutic treatments for it really don’t work, and right now there’s really no way we can stop this.”

But it’s a preventible disease, he stresses.

House Bill 1154, co-sponsored by State Representative George Keiser and State Senator Ralph Kilzer, M.D., former clinical professor of surgery, both of Bismarck, is aimed at curbing children’s and teenagers’ use of tanning beds.  It mandates that no one under the age of 14 may use these facilities without a doctor’s written order and without being accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, and no one under 18 may use them without notarized consent of a parent or a legal guardian.  Under the new law, businesses must inform patrons of the health risks associated with tanning beds.

Tanning beds and melanoma

“I’ve been talking about this with my dad for a while,” says Cornatzer, the son of Dona and Bill Cornatzer, M.D. (B.S. Med. ’79), clinical professor of internal medicine, Bismarck, and grandson of the late Margaret and W.E. “Gene”) Cornatzer, M.D., Ph.D., founding chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the UND medical school.    

“In Dad’s practice, melanoma is skyrocketing,” he says.  “It used be about one case a year, when he started practicing.  Now it’s one each month or every couple weeks.”

Landmark studies, conducted in Norway over a significant time period, show that people who use tanning bed are at increased risk to develop melanoma.

“This study correlates very well with North Dakota, because most of the people living here are of Scandinavian or Germanic descent,” he says. 

Generally, people don’t understand the seriousness of this disease, he adds.  And, sadly, the incidence of it “has gone up exponentially. 

“It’s huge.  In the ’30s, the lifetime risk was about one in 1,500.  In the ’90s, it increased to about one in 75.”

Curriculum promotes prevention

Cornatzer credits the curriculum and the faculty at the UND medical school for stimulating his interest in taking a proactive approach to this problem.

“Our curriculum really stresses prevention,” he says.  “Dr. Allen (Jon Allen, M.D. ’84, director of intro-duction to patient care and clinical skills) taught us that ‘A chance to prevent is a chance to cure.’  This is something we needed to do.”

“I personally look at it as a win for this state.”

-Pamela D. Knudson

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