Pol: Tan beds not kids stuff

TANNING BEDS should be toast for all kids, a New York congresswoman said Saturday.

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) has called on the federal Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of tanning beds by minors across the nation, saying indoor baking will contribute to more than 130,000 cases of melanoma this year alone.

“All across America today, teenagers will be making a purely fashion and fad decision that could be harmful to their health, and in fact cause cancer,” said Maloney, adding that skin cancer is the most common form of cancer for people in their 20s.

New York is one of nine states that has banned tanning beds for minors. Gov. Cuomo signed a law two years ago that prohibits their use by teens 17 and under and requires parental consent for those between 17 and 18.

Maloney also spearheaded legislation enacted in May that orders salons to post warning labels on their tanning beds.

Still, 2.3 million U.S. teens tan indoors every year, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

“Any artificial tanning from UV rays is dangerous — it can be deadly,” said Jessica Krant, who runs a dermatology practice on the upper East Side. “And we need to protect our minors and make sure they do not go into these machines of death.”

Doctors say roasting under a sunlamp can also lead to brown spots and wrinkles.

Joshua Zuckerman, a cosmetic plastic surgeon, said he performs excisions and reconstructive surgery resulting from melanoma on about 100 people a year — the majority of them young women.

But critics of the all-out ban said the message should be focused on sunburn prevention, not UV ray exposure.

“(Maloney) is delivering hyperbole designed to inflame rather than educate,” said Joseph Levy, scientific adviser to the American Suntanning Association. “Don’t ever sunburn, that is the bottom line.”