State seeks to outlaw tanning Right now, Oklahoma State Senator Andrew Rice is trying to get a bill passed that would make it illegal for minors to go to an indoor tanning facility without the written permission of a doctor, or without a parent or guardian staying with them in the facility during the tanning session. Right now, 29 states already have similar laws on the books. So this is just one more case of Big Government playing Big Brother. Senator Rice supports his argument by pointing out that both the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization have said that indoor tanning should be illegal in ALL CASES for children under the age of 18. But like most laws, this one is a half measure that's mired in compromises. It says kids under 13 need a doctor's OK or their parent to stay at the salon. From 13 to 15, no medical permission is necessary, but the parent still needs to stay during the session. From 16 to 17, kids only need written permission of a parent (yeah, that's not easy to forge!). In short, the new law - even if it's passed - is weak as water. There's no way it will keep teens from getting their "fake bake." After all, if a parent has the amazingly poor judgment to let a child under the age of 13 use a tanning salon in the first place, this type of measure won't amount to much. Don't get me wrong: I'm not condoning the use of tanning beds. After all, the UV exposure on tanning beds can increases the risk of the most deadly and difficult to treat skins cancers: malignant melanoma - the fastest growing and most lethal form of skin cancer in the U.S. But if you want to fry your skin and increase your risk of this deadly cancer, that's your prerogative. We're barely into the new year of 2009 and already there's been a deadly salmonella outbreak, this one linked to tainted peanut butter. Eight people have died and hundreds of others have been made sick from this latest outbreak. And the numbers are increasing everyday. Salmonella is usually associated with raw eggs and chicken (in the case of the eggs, this association is completely wrong). And I'll remind you that this deadly bacteria is also one of the bugaboos that Big Dairy uses in its crusade against raw milk. But once again, the "usual suspects" are nowhere to be found - the culprit is peanut butter made by Peanut Corp.'s peanut processing facility in Georgia.The worst part of this little story is that it could easily have been prevented if the FDA had done its job. Back in April, the Canadians turned away a shipment of these peanuts at the border because it contained a "filthy, putrid or decomposed substance." That would be a red flag to me. But the FDA did nothing. And now people all over the States are paying for their ineptitude. When will it end? This is the second salmonella scare associated with peanut butter in less than two years. You might remember that the mega-food company ConAgra had to recall vast amounts of its nationally distributed Peter Pan brand of peanut butter when a tainted batch sickened as many as 625 people in 47 states. In spite of what the FDA wants you to think, it's statistically safer to guzzle raw milk and down raw eggs than to eat a peanut butter sandwich. Just sayin'. | 
