Back in June, I was fortunate enough to join a few others to talk with North Carolina state legislators about the tanning ban bill to be reintroduced
next term. Also known as the Youth Skin
Cancer Prevention Act, article a2 of section 2 reads, “The operator (tanning
bed owner) shall not allow a person 13 years and younger less than 18
years of age to use tanning equipment without a written prescription from the
person’s medical physician specifying the nature of the medical condition
requiring the treatment, the number of visits, and the time of exposure for
each visit.”
While I’d rather either do without the physicians’ prescription part,
or require such to be administered by a licensed radiologist only, I find the amended
statement very promising. After all, the original bill stated 13 years and
younger and someone must have said, “whoa…let’s make it under 18.” Kudos to this person!
Anyhow, during my rounds, Rob the Lobbyist introduced me to a gentleman
who was supposedly my district representative.
The meeting went well and he even stated that “going to a tanning salon
seems stupid anyhow.” He was a definite
vote to pass next year’s bill. But there
was one problem. The gentleman was miles
apart from my personal political views and there was no way I would have ever
voted for him in the past. I faced a
dilemma…do I vote for a sure-fire vote against tanning, or do I compromise all
my other political beliefs?
As the upcoming election approached, I decided to write my
representative and his challenger. Well,
it turned out that Rob the Lobbyist was wrong. The gentleman I spoke with is NOT my district
representative after all. Regardless, I
decided to write to all four candidates up for office in my district…two running
for State Representative and two running for State Senator. Here’s what I wrote:
Good evening,
The Youth Skin Cancer Prevention Act, NC Senate Bill 471, will most
likely be reintroduced in some form during the next term. It states that persons less than 18 years of age
would not be allowed to use tanning beds without permission from a
physician. What is your stance on this
bill? Do you oppose it, support it, or
support with change?
Thank you in advance for your answer.
I tried to make it sound as neutral as I possibly could.
Of the candidates, two of them answered…one Rep candidate and one
Senate candidate. The Representative
Candidate responded the very next day as follows:
Thanks for reaching out to contact me.
I am not familiar with the bill or topic you have asked about and before
I could give you an opinion I would need to hear the pros and cons from both
sides. So to answer your question, I don’t
have enough information to answer your question if I support or oppose at this
time.
I respect his answer and I appreciate his quick answer. And I promise you, he WILL receive some
information from me soon. In fact, I met
him at the early voting site yesterday and he remembered our email
exchange. We talked only briefly (it was
freezing outside) but he seemed very receptive to anything I could present.
The one Senate candidate responded a few days later as follows:
My apologies for the delayed reply; it has been a crazy week with the
start of early voting. I have done some
initial research and have had some discussion on this topic. It appears as though there is a link between
increasing incidence of skin cancer and the use of tanning beds in the teen years. As such, it is likely that I would be in
favor of legislation that would prevent the use of tanning beds by persons
under age 18. With respect to more
specifics of the legislation, I would need to have further discussions. Is there any material you could share with me
that would expand my knowledge further?
I would appreciate anything you would be willing to send.
Thanks so much for reaching out to me on this important issue.
Whoo hoo…perfect answer!
I’m happy to say that I share many of the same political values as both
of these candidates…so they both got my vote.
I’m disappointed, however that I didn’t hear from the other two
candidates. I may not have voted for them
anyway, but their silence strongly encouraged a vote for each of their
opponents.
The point of this post is not to share my meager political outreach for
this election…but to encourage yours.
You have only a week left to vote (or less if you’re voting early) but I
encourage you to contact your candidates to get their take on the tanning issue
in your state. Many of these candidates
have no opinion yet and your voice can make a huge difference.
Vote!
