UK Teen Tanning Bed Ban: Coming to America?

April 8, 2011— -- The bronzed cast of MTV's "The Jersey Shore" might not be amused. England and Wales have banned the use of tanning booths for those under 18 years of age, enforcing it with a fine up to $32,000.

This follows studies that have discovered that the rate of malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, has tripled in the UK for those under the age of 35 since the seventies. On this side of the Atlantic, more than 30 states have laws restricting minors' access to indoor tanning beds. Still, on an average day, more than one million Americans use tanning salons.

"Tanning is an open invitation to developing skin cancer and other problems...we wouldn't let our child drive at 10, why expose them to the dangers of tanning as teens?" Cathi Hixson Pominski, a Tennessee viewer, told ABC News.

A study published in March in the American Journal of Public Health surveyed 6,000 teenagers ages 14 to 17 over a one-year period about their tanning habits. Researchers found that 17.1 percent of girls and 3.2 percent of boys used indoor tanning within that year. The study also showed that the same number of teens went tanning in states with laws that have age restrictions or require parental consent. Older teenage girls hit the tanning booths the most often.

"I don't tan anymore, but even though they are dangerous, people know this, so let them decide on their own. We are supposed to be 'The Land of the Free'," said ABC News viewer Debbi Dawson.