California Bans Tanning Beds For Minors

[discocrisco01]

The http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/09/california-bans-tanning-beds_n_1002589.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003}AP> reports

ACRAMENTO, Calif. — California girls who dream about the sun-kissed skin glorified in song by Katy Perry will have to wait until they turn 18 before they can get the effect from tanning beds under a new first-in-the-nation law.

Gov. Jerry Brown announced Sunday that he had signed into law a bill that prevents children under 18 from using the popular tanning method. The law takes effect Jan. 1.

Although Texas has banned the use of tanning beds for children under 16, SB746 bill makes California the first state to set a higher age limit. Thirty other states also have some age restrictions on the use, said the bill's author, state Sen. Ted Lieu.

Under current law, children 14 and under in California already cannot use the beds, but those ages 15 to 17 can do so with permission from their parents. Illinois, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island have considered an age limit similar to California's, but have yet to enact them, said the Democrat from Torrance, Calif.

The ban will hurt businesses, many of them owned by women, said the Indoor Tanning Association. About 5 percent to 10 percent of its members' customers are under 18, the industry group noted.

The organization said tanning salons already are regulated by the state Department of Consumer Affairs and the federal Food and Drug Administration – regulations it called the most stringent in the nation."

I think this law impedes into civil liberties of teenagers and it is another example of legislature that spends time on making bad laws. This is the same legislature that has outlawed talking on cell phones in car. This is the same legislature that micromanages regulations, but fails to pass a new state sentencing commission on state sentencing or passes major structural changes to the budgeting process.

It is just another example of state legislature going too far and not getting its priorities right.

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. weird. n/t

[bluestate10]

2. Good idea. Prevents a lot of agony later on. nt

[xmas74]

3. It's actually a decent law.

I'm entering my late thirties and I have six classmates who have been diagnosed with skin cancer. (I graduated from a smaller high school.) All six were heavy tanning bed users at a young age. One has left us because of skin cancer-31 was far too young to leave this world.

Let them decide at 18. The later they wait the less early exposure, if nothing else. As to talking on cell phones in cars-another good law. Pull over and talk instead of not paying attention to the road. Putting yourself at risk is one thing but when you're not paying attention to the road you put others at risk.

If I need to talk on the cell I pull over. If I need to send a text I pull over. No call is that important and if the call really is important you probably shouldn't be driving while taking it.

[Cid_B]

5. Nanny state crap...

[xmas74]

6. For underage children.

They aren't banning it for those of age.

If you're 18 you can tan. What kid needs to go to a tanning bed?

[Cid_B]

8. Leave it to the parents...

Not the role of the state IMO....

[Capitalocracy]

9. Should parents also let their kids smoke cigarettes?

Serious question, because it's essentially a similar risk. The statistical risk of melanoma skyrockets for people who have used a tanning bed even once.

[Cid_B]

11. I say yes... but most would likely disagree with me...

[Capitalocracy]

18. Then at least you're consistent, and I can kind of see where you're coming from

What would you say to this: they stay legal, parents can authorize their kids to use them, but they have to show you a picture of someone with melanoma?

[xmas74]

10. Some of the parents are idiots.

And teenage girls go to the beds without parental consent anyway.

Make it 18, make 'em show some ID. They will lose quite a bit of business because tanning beds are aimed directly at teenage girls. Every business in my area advertises specials if they show their high school ID.

Teens don't always think about the future. They don't think about the consequences. Make them wait just a few years until they're 18 to make this decision. If nothing else, it'll make pale skin the "thing" at prom and a few less girls will worry about mole biopsies at the age of 16.

[jmowreader]

4. Oh, the horror!

You mean they'll actually have to go back to tanning outdoors?

[xmas74]

7. Oh no!

Poor darlings have no idea how to mix the baby oil and iodine properly.

I think it's decent. Why do teens need to go to tanning beds? They don't.

[Feron]

12. I'd imagine that spray tanning would still be available to minors.

And there are bronzing/fake tan products available at any drug/grocery/chain store.

So kids can still get a tan without destroying their skin.

[madinmaryland]

13. What dumbass parent would let their child be exposed to a known

cause of cancer? Sounds like a common sense law to me, unless of course you want to expose your child to massive doses of cancer causing agents. Yeap, there are parents that are douchebags.

[sylveste]

15. you mean like the sun?

my parents let go out in the sun pretty much as often as i wanted, in fact they encouraged it.

more legislative silliness.

[Capitalocracy]

17. tanning beds are much, much worse

the chance of getting melanoma, the worst kind of skin cancer, skyrockets when you use tanning beds. They're a bad, bad, bad idea. And in many cases, at tanning salons they'll tell you the "base tan" you get there will protect you from the sun. But the fact is, you're actually better off getting a tan in the sun, if you insist on having one.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

14. Don't be hating...

[krispos42]

16. " California passes law banning young people from getting a Boehner"

Fark headline sums it up perfectly. :rofl: