You have to be 18 to vote, buy a pack of cigarettes or enlist in the military, and a Texas lawmaker wants to add using a tanning bed to the list.
State Rep. John Zerwas has proposed raising the legal age to go into a tanning bed to 18.
Currently, Texans who are younger than 18 but at least 16 and a half years old can tan with a parent's consent. Zerwas' bill would treat tanning like buying a pack a cigarettes -- you must be 18.
The Houston-area lawmaker says his bill would protect young people from future medical issues.
"The evidence is so clear and evident in terms of what the increased risk is for subsequent development of skin cancer, that the bill simply addresses that, under 18, you know, no," he said.
Zerwas said medical experts came to him with the idea for the bill and are now backing the proposed legislation.
"M.D. Anderson [Cancer Center] came to me, and the dermatological society came to me, so there is really a strong consensus around this, at least around the medical community," he said.
The legislation would only affect commercial tanning beds at tanning salons. Zerwas said some tanning salons might fight against the bill.
But not all of them.
Gino Vankuilenburg of Metro Tan in Carrollton told NBC 5 that many of his teen customers now prefer spray-tanning because it's cheaper and faster.
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TXT 24
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