Bill Would Ban Minors from Tanning Beds
Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) introduced legislation Friday that would prohibit teens 17 and younger from tanning in sunless tanning beds.
New legislation introduced Friday would prohibit all Illinois minors from using sunless tanning beds.
Senate Bill 2244, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont), would ban Illinois minors age 17 and younger from sunless tanning.
Currently, minors ages 14 to 17 are allowed to tan if they provide a parent's signature.
Radogno said in a press release that lawmakers need to take more serious action to prevent the "potentially deadly effects" of tanning.
“Just as we don’t give children the option to smoke, they shouldn’t be allowed to tan indoors—which medical studies show is a dangerous, and even deadly, practice,” Radogno said in a statement. “The light from indoor tanning beds is considered a Class 1 carcinogen, and many respected medical experts agree sunless tanning does increase the risk of cancer.”
In 2009, experts at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, moved tanning beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation into the top cancer risk category—the same classification given to arsenic and mustard gas, according to Radogno.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of developing melanoma due to tanning bed use increases by 75 percent for people under age 35, and the British Medical Journal agrees the earlier people start tanning, the greater the risk they will develop skin cancer,” she said. “There are plenty of safe tanning alternatives available, and there is absolutely no need for young people to take this unnecessary health risk.”
Illinois, California and Vermont are among states that have recently passed laws to restrict minors from visiting indoor tanning salons. California and Vermont are the only states with an outright ban on minors under age 18.
On Feb. 11, Oregon lawmakers introduced a bill that would require anyone younger than 18 to show a doctor's note before using a tanning bed.
In 2010, 14 different states worked to pass legislation prohibiting minors from tanning indoors, and in 2012 that number increased to 20, Radogno said.
Do you think minors should be banned from sunless tanning beds? Tell us in the comments.
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John Roberts
6:43 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
so they buy their own..Just like the cities plan to stop electronics from going in the garbage..Now down every alley way there is a TV,DVD players,stereos....all the electronics people were banned from throwing away...lmao..Laws do nothing
Common Sense
7:49 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Sure John @ $2000 and up for a bed and $500 for replacement bulbs I'm sure that everyone with teenagers will run out and get one....As far as the electronics residents can drop them off at the Troy Township Highway Department or you can have them pick them up. Check out their website at http://www.troytownship.com
johnqpublic
9:40 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Lets find something better to do.
Tony
11:35 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Illinois is broke and just about bankrupt and we waste our time on crap like this.
Donna Moncivaiz
5:08 am on Monday, March 11, 2013
There isn't anything better that our lawmakers could do. This bill would save lives. The risk of melanoma increases about 75% when people use tanning beds before age 30. And melanoma isn't just skin cancer. It kills.
Infamous Steve
10:57 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Isn't there more important things to worry about?
Jon Baker
12:05 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
More pointless legislation that wastes taxpayer dollars
Jax
12:25 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
I got an idea how about we quit making so many stupid laws for things like this that affect a handful of people ...minors not being allowed to tan yeah that law is already in affect its called child endangerment or child abuse..Its the parents who let them so punish the parents under existing laws we dont need new ones ok
Donna Moncivaiz
5:38 am on Monday, March 11, 2013
Someone dies every hour from melanoma. That's not a "handful of people."
Phillip Cleary
12:57 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
So our state is being swallowed into a financial vortex and this is what our tax dollars are buying us? While I think that anyone that uses a tanning bed is vain and foolish I think that Christine and all the other elected individuals should drop all the crap legislation until the financial issues are corrected.
Richard Smegma
2:00 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Amen
anonymous
4:45 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The govt should condone tanning for state employees-that way there would be less of them cashing out with huge pensions that the taxpayers are on the hook for.
Tony
11:33 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
They can't stop minors from having guns so they are going for tanning beds,why don't you just tell them they can't go outside while you are at it, make about as much sense.
Illinois Senate Republican Staff
3:48 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Please note, this bill deals specifically with the deadly effects of indoor tanning beds which emit ultraviolet rays. Medical research has shown the light from these indoor tanning beds to be carcinogenic. "Sunless tanning" which utilizes spray-on tanning would be exempt under this proposal. Senator Radogno
Jon Baker
3:59 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Wouldn't it be the parents responsibly to ensure their children don't use these then? The government can't be all things to all people. Pretty ironic considering the Republican party is always accusing the democrats of overextending government, those that live in glass houses.....
Donna Moncivaiz
5:17 am on Monday, March 11, 2013
I'm a parent. I let my daughter tan and she ended up with a melanoma on her back that required surgery to remove. She is also now at much higher risk to develop melanoma again. I let her tan because I didn't know the dangers. I tanned myself pretty frequently. My melanoma was diagnosed almost 2 years ago, and has spread. I'm Stage IV now. I know 3 women who lost daughters in their 20s due to melanoma. No parent likes to be told what they can and can't do with regard to their kids, but most parents don't know how dangerous they are! This is no joke. Senator Radogno's bill would save lives. There is no doubt.
Infamous Steve
8:02 am on Monday, March 11, 2013
Someone dies pretty much every second of every day....Does that mean we should ban life to keep everyone safe?
Donna Moncivaiz
8:41 am on Monday, March 11, 2013
So Infamous Steve...do we not (most of us anyway) do what we can to protect ourselves from things that are bad for us? We don't let kids smoke or drink. Why? It damages their health. No different for tanning beds. They cause a VERY nasty cancer. Trust me...you do not want anyone you care about to get melanoma.
We should absolutely live life. But we should also try to prevent needless suffering and death where we can.