No more teen tanning

As former juveniles ourselves, the Indiana Daily Student Editorial Board feels comfortable saying adolescents don’t generally enjoy the gift of foresight.

Not that juveniles aren’t great people. We are totally down with the youths.
We’re just saying some teens fail to connect the dots between actions and consequences.

But common lapses in young judgment are why the board is thrilled that no one in Indiana younger than 16 will be able to use a tanning bed starting July 1.

Sixteen- and 17-year-olds can only use the beds with parental consent.
Under this new law, kids can still use sprays and lotions to get the sun-kissed glow they so desire, but they will no longer have access to the beds.

Tanning beds are considered Level 1 carcinogens, according to the American Cancer Society.
Other Level 1 carcinogens include tobacco products, formaldehyde and plutonium.
Because we don’t let kids buy cigarettes, mainline formaldehyde or bask in the nuclear glow of plutonium, it’s nice that lying in a box of cancerous ultraviolet rays for hours is off the table now, too.

So now that teens can’t give themselves cancer this way, it’s important that adults don’t, either.

Being an adult means more freedom, including more freedom to make bad decisions. When it comes to taking care of our skin, we generally make pretty bad decisions.

Skin cancer is something many of us struggle to care about.

Multiple applications of sunscreen throughout the day might keep our skin from burning, blistering and peeling off, but it’s such a hassle and it smells weird.

And sometimes a sore, bright red back from one sunblock-free afternoon just takes a day or two to turn toasty brown.

Toasty brown is more attractive than inflamed orange, but we, the board, would take pale before cancerous any day.

And no doctor, ever, in the history of dermatology (probably), has recommended tanning.

We all should limit our tanning time, question why we feel the need to tan in the first place and try healthier habits on for size.

Doctors recommend everyone regularly wears sunscreen that protects from both UVA and UVB rays and has an SPF of at least 30.

Sunscreen should be reapplied every two hours, especially between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Hats and sunglasses also provide important sun protection.

We know this law, and similar protections, are good for our kids.

Now if we could only figure out they’re good for us, too.

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