Sep 21, 2009 11:49 pm US/Eastern
HoCo Asks For Regulations On Tanning Beds For Kids
HOWARD COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) ―
Leaders in Howard County are about to make a big move in the fight against skin cancer.
Denise Koch reports if they get their way, children under the age of 18 would be banned from using indoor tanning beds.
"I started tanning at the age of 17," said 2006 Miss Maryland Brittany Lietz. "At the end of two years, I was going four to five times a week, 20-25 minutes a time."
It was the Anne Arundel County native's dream to wear the crown, but before she was a beauty queen, Lietz was a tanning queen.
"My mom noticed the mole on my back and it was about the size of a nickel. I went to the doctor and within five minutes, my dermatologist told me she was almost positive I had melanoma," Lietz said. "So many emotions were running through my head all at the same time. I was in shock."
A recent government study shows new melanoma cases in younger women have spiked 50% since 1980. There was no increase in men.
It's research like this and stories like Lietz's that has Howard County leaders asking for new regulations to keep kids out of tanning beds.
Maryland is one of 29 states that already places restrictions on teens using tanning beds, but Howard County wants to take it a step further.
"I'm here to set the record straight and tell you 100% it can and will happen to you if you don't prevent it," Lietz said.
County Executive Ken Ulman and health officer Dr. Peter Beilenson are scheduled to announce their campaign Tuesday. If the ban passes, Howard County would be one of the first communities in the nation to enact a full ban on the use of tanning beds by minors.
According to an article in U.S. News & World Report, this summer the International Agency for Research on Cancer elevated tanning beds to the highest cancer risk category, calling them "carcinogenic to humans."
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