Senate Bill Would Make It Illegal For People Under 18 To Use Tanning Beds

Paying for that summer glow could cost you your life according to the American Cancer Society.

At the State Capitol, a Senate bill would make it illegal for anyone under 18 years old to use a tanning bed.

The American Cancer Society says melanoma is one of the most common cancers among people in their 20s. Just this last year more than 700 Oklahomans were diagnosed with it.

Traci Stackhouse was 14 when she started tanning. Her mother would take her sometimes three to four times a week.

"I danced and I was a cheerleader, so we just did those things in preparation for prom or competition," Stackhouse said.

But all those years eventually caught up with her, and at 32, she found a discolored mark on the back of her leg. She went to the doctor and found out she had melanoma - an often deadly skin cancer.

She was diagnosed again two years later.

"It truly is an addiction - you get so used to looking a certain way," she said.

Stackhouse, along with the Paula Warlick with American Cancer Society, is standing behind Senate Bill 765, which, if approved, would prohibit the use of tanning facilities by minors.

"Indoor tanning, it's the damage. So when the tan fades the damage the damage is done to you skin," Warlick said.

She said, in the last few years, research has improved even more.

The World Health Organization classified tanning as "carcinogenic to humans," so it's in the same category as tobacco, asbestos and plutonium.

Warlick said, "That is how dangerous it is, so, when you look at this legislation think of it in the same regards as tobacco - we don't let anyone under 18 smoke and we don't give them a note."

It shows that even just one trip could be enough to one day lead to skin cancer.

"I wish I could have gone back to that first day I tanned and said ‘no.’" Stackhouse said.

Similar bills were introduced last year but they didn't pass.

The Senate has until next week to consider the bills or they'll have to wait until next session.