HEALTH

Wellness

Teens in tanning beds: Yay or nay?

New York is currently considering a law that would ban minors from using tanning beds. While civilians and lawmakers alike have been debating tanning for years now, the issue has come to the surface recently thanks to Patricia Krentcil, the NJ mom who reportedly took her 6-year-old daughter to a tanning booth. Though she denies actually letting her child tan, consumer advocates are pointing to this particular situation as being representative of a tanning-obsessed nation.

 

The American Cancer Society announced in the last few days that melanoma rates have jumped 72 percent in the last decade—a statistic for which they blame the increase in tanning bed use.

 

Currently, NY prohibits children ages 14 and under from using tanning beds and requires minors between the ages of 14 and 18 to have written parental consent, though officials worry this mandate it not being enforced. While some lawmakers think it’s up to parents to control their kids, others believe a blanket ban on tanning for the under-18 crowd is simply good public health policy. A similar law has been proposed in New Jersey and others are in place in California and Vermont.

 

What do you think of this possible tanning bed ban? Do you use tanning beds to get your summer glow on?

 

POSTED IN , , , , ,

by Brittany Taylor | 2/1/2016
share