I think it's a free country and we should be able to do what we please as long as we are not jepordizing the life of someone else.

I don't know... I mean, companies sell cigarettes with impunity, & those are known to cause cancer. I think it'll just end up being heavily regulated & tanning salons will have to prominently post special Surgeon General's warnings.

This is a personal choice to make, like drinking or smoking, not one for the government to ban.

I think cigarettes should be banned before tanning beds. They are bad for you, but like Lovely said, it's a free country!

I am torn here. it's a free country, but if you knowingly engage in something proven to cause cancer, that could be affecting everyone else's insurance premiums.
So if I know that drinking grape juice (making this up, obviously) causes lymphoma, and I knowingly drink grape juice, why should the rest of the country bear the burden of my insurance costs?
All of this stuff influences the cost of healthcare.
Thankfully I don't tan at all, so this has never been an issue for me. I'm practically transparent.

There are plenty of proven-unhealthy things available to the general public. For instance, the junk and fast foods that cause diabetes and heart disease. Overconsumption of those also influences the cost of healthcare. Just because something is unhealthy doesn't mean it should be banned.

Everyone already knows that tanning is bad for you and tanning salons already have to have warnings posted about the risks. Personally, I think cigarettes should definitely be banned before tanning beds because they don't only hurt the people using them but others as well with secondhand smoke. You can't make it illegal for people to do anything that's bad for them. At some point, people have to become responsible for their own decisions.

It's a free country but we know what it causes, even if the tanning association wants to claim otherwise. I don't know but we definitely don't need cigarettes around either and I wouldn't mind being able to be outside somewhere without digusting cigarette smoke anywhere near me. It especially gets on my nerves to see people smoke right near children.

If tanning beds are outlawed, people will just resort to laying out in the sun. You know, getting skin cancer the old fashioned way.

Is it not a free country? It's not once we regulate everything under the sun.

I agree with most of the posts here. Perhaps they should have an "at your own risk" sign or something. Most people know that tanning is not good for them but will do it for a limited time. I think they should ban many other things before attacking the tanning salons.

I see yalls point. Wish I could change my vote!

I think that it's exceedingly foolish to use them, but just like smoking, it's a personal choice.

I've never used a tanning bed and never plan to. But as the others have mentioned, there are other products out there that are much worse than a tanning bed.

No way, I hate the goverment regulating everything, it's a free freaking country. What ever happened to personal choice? Pretty soon I'll have to get their OK to poop. jeez.

I, like most others, have alot of conflicting opinions about this. On one hand, maybe they should be regulated, if not eliminated all together (like SO many other things) because of the fact that most people simply CAN'T/DON'T make healthy decisions. Modern society is so vain and ignorant, most of the time people just can't take care of themselves. At the same time, like many have mentioned already, it's a "free country" and individuals should be able to make there own decisions regarding their health... I know I value that right myself. *shrug*

No way. Stay out of it Mr. Govt. Plus, there are tons of warnings and risks posted in all tanning salons already.

I'm with ya there, syako. I worked in a tanning salon several years back, and we had a bunch of mandatory warnings that we had posted right in the waiting room.

Anyway, there's no point to banning every single thing that people choose to do to themselves despite the known risks and harm. Those kinds of things are around so that natural selection can take its course and weed the idiots out of the gene pool

(I'm not talking about people who tan, just idiots in general.)

I don't think so...mostly because I know a couple people that go in the winter, not to get tan (and believe me, they don't) but to absorb some vitamin D when the sun is absent during the cold months. I've read UV rays are the best way to for your body to abosrb/synthesize vitamin D...apparently even more so than supplements. But I'm sure there's arguements that say exactly the opposite. Nothing is black and white (or in this case, a strange violet glow).

It's a personal choice, like smoking. As long as they know the risks of it while they do it and don't care, then let them get cancer.

Absolutely not. I was diagnosed with a skin disease at 9 years old. After a decade of many different treatments, and marginal results. I eventually just decided to throw in the towel and live with it. Then one summer spent in the sun lifeguarding completely erradicated every sign of my disease. Tanning is tanning - whether out in the sun or in a bed. Not everyone gets to spend as much time in the sun as I did being a lifeguard. I'd still have terrible ugly and sometime painful scales on my skin if I wasn't able to get exposure to UV rays.

Not to mention, that fact that almost all dermatologist having a tanning bed in their offices says something. There are benfits to sunlight. People that decide to turn their skin into leather and suffer the consequences (read: skin cancer) were certainly warned before hand.

(last comment, i swear) - Many people that have various skin diseases are covered by their insurance to go tanning.

That's a really good point that I had forgotten... a lot of skin diseases are treated with UV therapy. Psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, etc.
My thing is that I don't want to pay for an illness resulting in someone else's conscious actions. I think they have the right to take said actions, I'd just like to keep my wallet out of it.

I agree that the answer is a more educated consumer base, not parenting-via-legislation. However, I hate the new tanning marketing campaigns that try to make light of legitimate skin cancer research! I hope people believe research institutions before tanning salons, but I worry....

True about Psoriasis, but there are other treatment options as well. Plus, most doctors who provide this regulate UV therapy in their offices, not at tanning salons.

I would lean towards banning, only because kids of any age can go in and use them. Either that, or they should be strict about letting in people under 18.

I tanned agressively all the way through college and couple years beyond that. So I can see both sides to this story. However, I feel that this is kinda of like anything harmful (smoking, alcohol, etc) you proceed at your own risk.

I think that it should be illegal for the people in tanning salons to tell people that tanning is safe, which it seems like all of them do. But people should be able to make their decisions when it comes to their bodies.

tanning harms only the person who engages in it
smoking, on the other hand, affects innocent bystanders and helpless children
it should certainly not be banned, especially not before such vices as smoking!

This is stupid. Why not ban cigarettes and alcohol as well? Seriously... let people decided what's right for themselves.

oh, and lizzylu49- where i live you have to be 16 or older to tan otherwise you need a parent or guardians to sign for you.

i know they're unhealthy, but if you ban them, more people will go out int eh sun to tan and that's probably worse in the long run

Bottom line here is if you ban tanning beds you should also ban cigarettes! They both cause cancer right? The people using them are adults and know what it can do to them. I dont think it should be banned. ...and NO i dont ever use tanning beds and i dont smoke either. Im as pale as they come.

This is just silly.

If you have to be 18 to buy cigarettes, I think you should have to be 18 to tan indoors.

I think if someone wants cancer and to age their skin-go for it. I on the other hand will pass.

I'm almost positive you do have to be 18 to tan indoors, loveyoumeanit. When I was in school, I used to tan for prom, etc. and I had to get my mom to sign a waiver for me. I don't have the time, money or desire to go anymore... but it's still my right to if I want to. Just another case of lawmakers telling me what's best for me while they go booze it up in their studies at night.

It may be different in different states, mondaymoos, but I don't think there's any kind of age minimum for tanning out here--at least none that's enforced. I worked at that tanning salon for nearly a year and never heard anything like that, nor did we card anyone for tanning.

The tanning salon I worked at years ago had a rule you had to be 18! I used to tan a bit...not all the time, but we had some people come in every day. That is a bit much. I don't think they are healthy at all but what can you do?? Stricter regulations may help.

why do we need tanning beds when we have a perfectly good sun?

Please, government, take away my free will. I think it's a slippery slope. There are a lot of things that are unhealthy, but as people we get to make our own choices.

I equate it with smoking...we all know it's bad, and if you decide to do it, then it's at your own risk. I don't think anything like this should be mandated by the government.

I think tanning beds should be banned but people will find some other way to hurt themselves. In my area I caught a TV commericial pushing tanning because the beds supposedly boost your immune system... what?!? I was shocked by how much folks are cool with deceiving themselves with these things.

Tanning beds should be banned...but leave that nekkid boy with me =P

Individual choice. I am anti-tanning bed. But it's not my place to choose for someone else. I do think they should come with big fat warnings plastered on the bed's exterior, and that users should be shown pictures of skin cancer. But hey, not my body.

no! people who choose to use these cancer beds will pay with their lives, its their choice! We need to start being responsible for our actions, we need to start having self discipline and not leaning to corps to make descisions for us.

Just like smoking! If you dont know by now that smoking will kill you then theres something wrong, most of those who smoke knows its bad but they still do it. Their choice! We cant blame the cigs corps for that!

Yes, you have to be 18 to use beds, or get your parents to sign forms. And I agree with everyone above me who says it's a free country.

There are worse things than tanning beds, honestly. Plus, there's a difference between tanning once in a while and going every other day and turning your skin into leather. Just like, there is a difference between having a few cocktails or glasses of wine a week, and binge drinking. Everything in moderation.

Not to mention, UV rays are (in small doses) good for you. They provide you with vitamin D, and have mood-boosting abilities.

Next thing you know, they'll be banning the SUN!! This is so ridiculous!!!

shouldnt it be a personal choice? You're not putting anyone at risk but yourself.
I dont see them banning cigarettes or alcohol anytime soon.......

This is America! Going tanning isn't hurting anyone but myself...

Cigarettes have warnings on them and almost everyone knows smoking is bad for you, but tanning is not the same. So many salons make it seem glamourous and necessary for good looks and they don't post warnings on their advertisements. I have a real problem with tanning salons that say you should get a base tan for your tropical vacation or whatever. It's BS...wear sunscreen and use a spray on.

if any kind of tanning is unsafe are the police going to patrol the beaches and arrest people for being tan?....