In an op-ed piece for Forbes.com, business and political management firm CEO Kellen Guida cites restrictions on indoor tanning as one of many examples of politicians overstepping boundaries and unnecessarily limiting the freedoms of Americans.

“In 2011 over 40,000 laws were passed, many limiting choice on such things as light bulbs, who can use tanning beds, how we may use our own property and what parts of our property are untouchable less you want to face a fine or jail time, home and business exterior lighting and signage, minimum numbers of hours we must pay an employee, mandating many insurances and more,” Guida writes. “…Are we supposed to continue pretending that people are so stupid that our government must eliminate the choices we make and instead dictate everything to us?”

He blames this excessive political involvement on an uninformed and insecure bureaucratic class.

“We have access to more information than ever before but government is limiting our important choices more so than any other time in American history,” he writes. “Does that make sense to you? It seems backwards, right?”

While the professional tanning community supports constructive and cooperative measures to increase UV awareness and sunburn prevention, a matter our market takes very seriously, passage of legislation denying teenagers with their parents consent access to indoor tanning facilities actually hurts more people than it helps and leads to an increase in sunburn and skin injury. Proponents of such measures, however well-intentioned, ignore conflicting research and confounding information and are doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.

Smart Tan members can download more information on tanning legislation and other subjects from the Resource Library in the Member Area of SmartTan.com.

Click here to read Guida’s piece on Forbes.com.

SmartTan.com news articles regularly report medical and scientific information to keep you abreast of current events related to UV light. This information is not intended to be used by any party to make unwarranted health claims to promote sunbed usage. Indoor tanning businesses are obligated to communicate a fair and balanced message to all clients about your products and services including the potential risks associated with indoor tanning. Contact your Smart Tan representative to find out more about what you can and can’t say in your tanning salon business.

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