Oakville, Ont. Bans Teens From Using Tanning Beds: Other Cities To Follow? By Alexis O’Toole from Who The Hell Knows Anymore, USA (neo sunshine) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Ontario Town Outlaws Tanning Beds for Teens
If you’re under the age of 18 and living in the town of Oakville, Ontario, you’re no longer allowed to make use of tanning beds thanks to a town council vote on August 13 to put the restrictions in place.
Those 18 and over are still welcome to continue tanning at local salons.
The Oakville move comes even as the Ontario provincial government is studying the matter for themselves. Though no official word has been given to date, it seems likely that some sort of province-wide action is in the works. Especially since the Canadian Cancer Society claims that children who regularly use tanning beds have an 87% higher risk of developing skin cancer.
“It behooves us to at least restrict youth before they develop a habit of tanning themselves,” said Melanoma Network of Canada chair Annette Cyr. She told the Toronto Star that “studies have indicated an increased risk of up to 75 per cent of developing melanoma from even one usage in a tanning bed.”
Critics of the ban argue parents should have the ultimate say in whether or not their underage children use tanning beds. That argument has fallen on deaf ears, at least among the town council members in Oakville.
The Canadian Cancer Society says exposure to indoor tanning before the age of 35 increases the danger of melanoma by 75 per cent.
