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New bills aim to ban kids from tanning booths and to regulate tattoo parlors

Concerns about skin cancer spark bill to ban children under 16 from tanning booths, and concerns about infections prompt bill to regulate tattoo artists


Doctors and lawmakers worried about skin cancer in the Sunshine State are taking another shot at controversial legislation that would ban children under 16 from tanning booths.

And in another skin battle, legislators are proposing to make tattoo artists and parlors get licensed for the first time, so the state can crack down on underground "scratchers" who cause infections with unsanitary practices.

The tanning bill failed last year but proponents said more research in the past year has strengthened the link between indoor tanning and skin cancers, which have been shown to stem from burns and overexposure in youth.

"The bill has a better chance this year, I think, because tanning has been proven deleterious to people's health and people understand that better, and there's a direct link to cancer from the tanning bed," said Dr. Dan Meirson, a Pompano Beach specialist who is legislative chairman for the Florida Society of Dermatologists and Dermatologic Surgery.

"There's no such thing as a real healthy tan," Meirson said. "Teens know but they don't always follow the recommendations about limiting sun exposure, so we need to do more to prevent it."

One bill, SB 430 by state Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, has passed the Health Regulation Committee but comes up for a hearing Thursday in the Judiciary Committee where it died a year ago. A House bill, HB 205, has not been taken up in any committee yet.

Under the bills, teens 16 to 18 would need to have notarized parental consent to be able to use a tanning booth.

Despite the year-round sun, Florida has 1,600 tanning operations with 7,100 machines – including about 115 parlors in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

The tanning industry has been fighting teen tanning bans across the country for years and has lobbyists working in Tallahassee, said John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association.

"Our common theme is that parents know more about raising children than politicians do. We're talking about getting a sun tan," Overstreet said. "It's not that dangerous."

The tattoo bills, SB 942 by Sobel and HB 729 by state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, would force tattoo artists and salons to get licenses and be inspected for cleanliness for the first time.

Tattoo artists has protested loudly and thwarted the effort a year ago. But this year, they are supporting the bills on the grounds that the stronger standards for cleanliness would pose no problem for legitimate salons and would help the state root out underground tat artists who cause the most problems.

Unsanitary tattooing can cause infections and in the worst case scenario, can spread blood-borne illnesses such as hepatitis or even HIV/AIDS.

"You get these guys who are doing it out of the basements or their kitchens," said "Sailor Bill" Johnson, a Maitland tattoo artist who is past president of the Florida Professional Tattoo Artists Guild and vice president of the National Tattoo Association. "They see it on TV and they go, ‘That's easy.' They don't know what they have to do."

italianoborioso

thanks navigatin lol

navigatin1

Ahh, no biggie.

joenba1k

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excusemesir

Did Overstreet really say "It's not that dangerous."? You have got to be kidding me!