Nov 10, 2009 11:18 pm US/Eastern
Howard County Bans Children From Indoor Tanning
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (WJZ) ―
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Medical evidence shows it can be deadly, but should it be illegal? That was the debate in Howard County Tuesday night as lawmakers considered banning minors from tanning salons.
AP
Medical evidence shows it can be deadly, but should it be illegal? That was the debate in Howard County Tuesday night as lawmakers considered banning minors from tanning salons.
Kelly McPherson has more on what happened at Tuesday night's hearing.
The Howard County Board of Health has voted to ban people under age 18 from using indoor tanning devices.
The unanimous vote was taken Tuesday.
Health Officer Dr. Peter Beilenson introduced the regulations in September. They take effect on Thursday.
At A Place in the Sun, there's a big investment in tanning beds. Joy Diamond has owned the Ellicott City tanning salon for 25 years. She's always required parental consent for teens even before it was state law and she enforces strict time limits. But she says Howard County's plan to ban indoor tanning for teens goes too far.
"I don't think it's their place because if they're going to regulate this, who's going to be at the beach? Who's going to be at the pool? Are they? I doubt that, so I don't see the point," she said.
County Executive Ken Ulman and the health officer announced the proposed regulation in line with their vision of a model public health community. It's spurred by a study that shows using a tanning bed before age 30 increases the risk of skin cancer by 75%. That research organization is labeling tanning beds "cancer causing agents."
"Just as society has deemed it not correct or not appropriate for parents to have the right to choose to give teenagers consent to buy a pack of Marlboros, we think the same should hold true with indoor tanning beds," said Dr. Peter Beilsenson, Howard County Health Department.
Diamond says if the ban goes into effect, she will be devastated by it financially because 20-25% of her patrons are teenagers.
"It would close the doors. It's been a tough enough year--that would probably do it," she said.
Former Miss Maryland Brittney Lietz is throwing her support behind the ban. She has undergone surgery for skin cancer after years of indoor tanning.
"How could one looking at this evidence not act? That's the question I would pose," Ulman said.
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