Skin Doctors, Activists Square Off On Teen Tanning

Skin doctors told House lawmakers to ban tanning for people under 18, while personal liberties activists argued such laws turn Idaho into a “nanny state.”

Similar bans are being debated in states including Washington, West Virginia and Utah.

On Thursday, Blake Sampson, a University of Washington medical student working in Idaho, told the House Health and Welfare Committee he’s promoting the bill because Idaho has some of the highest rates of skin cancer – and teen tanning – in America.

Sampson says it’s irrefutable that ultraviolet radiation increases cancer risks.

Several dermatologists called this a necessary step to helping young people make healthy decisions.

But the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s Erik Makrush said families, not well-intentioned legislators, should decide.

And an industry representative called the bill the most extreme she’d seen.