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Teenager Declares Proposed Indoor Tanning Ban "Stupid"
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published May 5, 2011
Modified May 5, 2011
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Photo from Flickr user Adam Lerner
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published May 5, 2011
Modified May 5, 2011
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Remember last year, when Snooki-loving youngsters looking for that perfect bronze-from-a-box got a little scare? Not the cancer kind (as if), more like fun-hating lawmakers trying to ban teens from using tanning beds, like, ever. The measure didn't go through at the time, so pasty-skinned teens continued to get their glow on without fear—until now.
Once again, state lawmakers are considering a move to ban indoor tanning for all minors, a move that the American Cancer Society calls a "top priority" and the tanning industry says is just another "nanny state" attack. And what about the teenagers themselves, who are gearing up for the all-important, flesh-bearing prom season? "I think that's stupid," 15 year-old Ana Stuphen told NBC, when asked about the potential ban.
If the bill goes through, New York will be the first state to ban indoor tanning for minors altogether, although we already ban children under 14 form using the "cancer boxes" altogether and require parental permission for teens age 14-17. Not to hyperbolize or anything, but "Kids can get an abortion without parental permission, but they can't get a tan," said Dan Humiston, president of the national Indoor Tanning Association. The American Cancer Society has released studies noting that people who tan indoors before the age of 30 increase their risk of melanoma by a whopping 75%, but John Overstreet of the Indoor Tanning Association says, "There is no scientific basis for those folks to want to ban teenagers." Yeah, who needs science anyway?
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health
jersey shore
ny state
tanning
tanning ban
tanning beds
teenagers
Jamie Feldmar
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