Bloomberg’s Final Daddy-Target: Tanning Salons

Don’t want me to smoke in a bar? Check. Don’t mind if my massive-soda addiction forces me to drive to Hackensack to feed the beast? Check. Don’t mind if, without trans-fats, my Big Mac now tastes like cat fur? Check, check.

But THIS — oh, now it’s gone too far.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose various health-preserving crusades have elicited far more passionate commentary outside of Manhattan than inside, is at it again. And this time, he’s targeting those scourges of all that is proper in the world — tanning salons.

Yes, Mayor Mike is sick and damned tired of watching his minions bake their epidermis until it’s the consistency of brown burlap. It’s so much more tasteful, you see, if your lovely bronze patina is achieved through natural means — a week in St Barts, or the Amalfi Coast, or some such. Got it?

The proposed rules would:

— Require the Health Department to inspect tanning salons, UV machines and timers at least once every two years. Machines that don’t meet standards would be shut.

— Crack down on unlicensed operators. There are 106 tanning salons with permits, but officials suspect there are others operating illegally

— For the first time, require operators of UV equipment to undergo training

— Enforce the law that bars adolescents under 17 from frequenting tanning shops

— Launch a public education campaign at the tanning salons to warn New Yorkers — particularly kids — of the dangers of too much UV radiation.

“There is no doubt that tanning increases the risk of skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer,” said Daniel Kass, the city’s deputy health commissioner for environmental health. “We want to make sure kids are not using these salons.”

Last year, nearly 900 city residents suffered from melanoma, the most severe form of skin cancer.

That’s double the number of the 1990s.

And 100 New Yorkers died from melanoma in 2012, Kass said.

Authorities increased their focus on tanning salons after tanning-addicted New Jersey mom Patricia Krentici was busted for bringing her 5-year-old daughter inside a tanning booth.

Oh, so it’s NEW JERSEY that we can thank. Suddenly it all makes sense. Next target: hair tonic.

By: rhb

Rob is a NYC-based Internet entrepreneur. He's also a businessman and job creator (wait: doesn't demand create jobs?) who understands the sense, and the eventual predominance, of the progressive agenda.