PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Rhode Island lawmakers have voted to ban minors from using tanning facilities.
The House voted 69-3 Tuesday to prohibit the practice for people under 18 years old. The Senate passed similar legislation in April. The chambers have to pass each other’s bills before they go to the governor.
Current law allows minors to use tanning beds if they receive a parent’s consent or have a prescription for “ultra-violet radiation.” The House bill would eliminate both of those exceptions.
Democratic Rep. Mia Ackerman, who sponsored the bill, says she spoke with dermatologists who told her they wouldn’t instruct minors to go to tanning facilities.
The Senate bill kept the prescription exemption. Senators have agreed to adopt the House version.
Ackerman says the World Health Organization considers tanning beds a worse carcinogen than cigarettes.
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