Alden Wolfe is ‘unsurprised’
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- August
- 3
County Legislator Alden Wolfe, D-Suffern, has issued a press release noting he is “unsurprised” by the findings of a cancer study in the medical journal “Lancet Oncology.”
He said the study confirmed the dangers of tanning beds and their ultraviolet radiation. It pointed out that the risk of skin melanoma was increased 75 percent when people started using tanning beds before age 30, Wolfe said.
Why does he care so much about the topic?
Because back in 2006, Wolfe authored a bill to ban tanning for anyone under 16 and to require parental consent for those 16 and 17. The Legislature passed it, County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef vetoed it, then legislators overrode the veto and made it law.
Wolfe says as a result of the study’s findings, the French-based International Agency for Cancer Research, part of the World Health Organization, has designated ultraviolet tanning beds as “carcinogenic to humans,” meaning they cause cancer.
“Hopefully this latest study will encourage people to make smarter health decisions, and encourage our young adults not to engage in a practice that could have devastating impact on their health,” Wolfe said.
Next up: Wolfe and the other 16 legislators will eventually consider, again, whether to pass a calorie-posting law to require chain restaurants to put the number of calories on their menu boards. Supporters hope such a law will encourage people to make smarter health decisions and to not engage in a practice that could devastate their health.
This entry was posted
on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm by Laura Incalcaterra. 
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