Teenagers and Their Tanning Problem

Teenagers and their Tanning Problem

30 million people are expected to go tanning this year (“Tanning poses risks” 1). That means that 30 million people are putting themselves up for the risk of skin cancer, premature aging, and they are putting themselves in a possible unsanitary environment. The tanning industry wants a person to think that the only thing that tanning can do for them is to make them bronze and beautiful. When in reality, it has the opposite effect. People need to know what they are doing to themselves before they put themselves in a tanning bed. Many people choose not to acknowledge all of the harmful effects that tanning can have on your body. They think that it won’t happen to them. But, I will give facts and statistics to show that everyone is at risk of the possible outcomes that come from using a tanning bed. There are 1 million new cases of skin cancer found each year (“No Teen tanning” 1). We need to make that number go down. If we make a law that makes a person have to be over 18 to go tanning, many lives would be saved.

Tanning salons are not keeping up to their regulations. They are not only lying to us, but are also misleading us in multiple ways. A recent survey done where a reporter from The Consumer Union asked employees at tanning salons from 12 different cities multiple questions to see the results. When they did this they found that 75% of employees said their customers could tan everyday, 6% said they would allow them to tan without eyewear, 20% said minors could come without any adult and 35% said that tanning doesn’t cause skin cancer (“Tanning poses risks” 1). These statistics are way too high. Not only are the people at the tanning bed not trustworthy, but so are their actual beds. Emp...

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...abit at all. Being 18 is a big step in a teenager’s life. They automatically become more responsible and more mature. They should be able to be mature enough to make the right decision by choosing to not go tanning. They would also no longer have the peer pressure while being in high school to look a certain way. This would be a great law that could save lives, but still protect that American right of freedom to choose what a person does with oneself. Lots of states are taking action and creating new regulations and laws for tanners. Let us be the one who really goes all out. Let us be the one to start something new. People would look to us and think about how much we care about our people and their lives. If we do create this law, then many lives would be saved. Future cancer patients would no longer exist. Our Indiana State citizens will thank us in the future.