Kelsey Tucker

Sports Editor

   You may have noticed that some of the girls in our school have miraculously become more tan over the last month. The catalyst for this pigmentation change is most likely the anticipation of Spring Break or Prom. These tan teenagers may use the tanning bed once, twice, maybe even three times a week to achieve what they call a “healthy tan” and to “look prettier.” However, evidence shows that these tanning practices are not healthy and not worth the perceived beauty.

    Few teens are strangers to tanning beds. In fact, 37% of female adolescents between 13 and 19 years old have used a tanning bed. Although most tanning bed users are female, 11% of male adolescents between 13 and 19 years old have used a tanning bed as well. It is also estimated that 2.3 million teens use tanning beds at least once a year. What does this mean? It means that these teenagers are in danger. These teenagers run a high risk of developing melanoma, which is the deadliest type of skin cancer. The risk for melanoma goes up 75% for people under the age of 30 who are exposed to the harmful ultraviolet light rays emitted by tanning beds.

    With these imminent dangers, more states are laying down the law on tanning teenagers. At least 30 states have some sort of restriction requiring parental consent for tanning bed users between the ages of 14 and 17, and several states have banned tanning for those under the age of 14. In California, state law bans teenagers under the age of 18 from using tanning beds. However, states with no such restrictions will let teenagers tan as much as they want. In Kentucky and other states without restrictions, tanning salons often offer frequent/unlimited tanning packages with discounted rates. These states allow teenagers to tan 7 days a week if they can pay for the minutes.

    The dangers that tanning poses to teenagers far outweigh the benefits. Why, then, are teenagers putting themselves in so much danger just to be tan? The answer is that most teenagers simply don’t care. To bullet-proof teens, the consequences of tanning are too far in the unforeseen future and the “benefit” of being tan is here and now.  Teenagers don’t consider the consequences of their actions at this age, which can be ultimately deadly.