Senator Wants to Ban Minors from Tanning Beds
By: Dawn White
Updated: March 12, 2013
Ultraviolet tanning beds are lighting things up in the Maryland General Assembly. Senator Jamie Raskin wants to ban minors from using them, even with parental consent.
"You could go to the salon for the purposes of spraying, to get a spray tan. That's no problem. It's just you can't use the indoor tanning device, the technological device, which is extremely high power ultraviolet rays reining down on every part of your body," says Raskin, (D) - District 20.
Minors with a medical condition requiring UV tanning could get an exception in the bill. Besides that, Raskin wants to keep teens out of tanning beds.
"The World Health Organization has declared it to be a known carcinogen," Raskin says.
Christina
Glover owns Sunset Tans in
"A lot of minors come in for special occasions and want extra glow," Glover says. "They're going to the beach, they're getting ready for prom, and I think they should be able to tan if they want to and if they have their parent's permission."
Glover says she makes sure people tan gradually.
"We want to make sure that people are tanning responsibly, that they're doing it in moderation, and that they're not coming in every day," Glover says. "We don't want them to overexpose. We want to make sure they're building up their tan safely."
Raskin, a cancer survivor, hopes to establish the tanning age of 18 this session. His bill will be heard in committee on March 14.
"Kids know how to nag, and we don't want to get in a situation where they go to the mom or the dad and say, 'If it was really dangerous, they wouldn't give you the right to sign it. Please go ahead and sign it.' Let's just have a clear rule, like we have a drinking age. Let's have a tanning age," Raskin says.
