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Chicago teen tan ban heads to full council vote

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Katrina Polansky, 24, from Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood testifies for a ban on tanning for people under age 18. She told City Council members that as a teen she artificially tanned 5 days a week leading to melanoma, surgery and a facial scar. The Council committee unanimously backed the ban, it goes before full City Council next Wednesday. (ABC7's Ben Bradley)

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May 30, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- A Chicago City Council committee has unanimously backed a proposal to ban tanning for minors in the city. Now, the vote heads to the full council for approval.

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The full vote is scheduled to take place next Wednesday.

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More: Download the ordinance (pdf)

Story: Chicago teen tanning ban?

Story: Chicago proposal would ban teen tanning

Katrina Polansky, 24, of Lakeview, testified Wednesday before the License and Consumer Protection Committee, telling the group that as a teen she artificially tanned five days a week, leading to melanoma, surgery and a facial scar.

Under current Illinois law, minors under the age of 14 are restricted from using a tanning facility. Under 50th Ward Alderman Debra Silverstein's ordinance, the ban would extend to minors in Chicago under the age of 18.

"We regulate cigarettes being sold to minors under the age of 18 mainly because they are harmful to our youth. I do not see why this should not be extended to barring minors under the age of 18 from tanning facilities," Silverstein said in a news release May 9.

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