City tanning salons get the bronze medal for blowing off the law.
They’re ignoring year-old legislation requiring them to warn customers about the cancer dangers of UV radiation — with several even agreeing to let a 14-year-old illegally bake in the dangerous rays, a Post investigation found.
“I thought she was in her 20s,” said a salon worker at Fifth Avenue Beauty & Nails in Manhattan, who let the girl into a tanning booth without asking her age.
Under state law, anyone under 18 must present a Health Department signed parental- per mission form.
The form, which the salon is supposed to provide, says in door tanning could cause cancer and the parent is willing to take the risk.
Under the law, indoor tanning salons are not allowed to take customers younger than 14. But the salons are also required to warn all adult customers of the cancer risk.
At Sun Point Retreat on East 63rd Street in Manhattan, the receptionist asked the teen a series of questions — including the last time she tanned —but never quizzed the girl about her age.
When confronted, the employee said she assumed the reporter accompanying the girl was her mother, so it was OK. And she didn’t see what was wrong with kids tanning.
“I’ve been tanning since I was 12,” she huffed when told she had violated the law.
None of the 13 parlors visited provided the state’s official tanning-hazards information sheet or the “statement of acknowledgement form,” on which the customer indicates knowing the dangers.
Two of them let a reporter stroll into the tanning booth without signing anything, while four others offered up their own forms, which did not mention the risk of cancer.
The state form lists the risks of tanning in bold print, declaring in the first line, “Ultraviolet radiation is a human carcinogen and can cause skin cancer.”
Four out of the five salons The Post visited with the 14-year-old allowed the teen to breeze right into tanning booths, without a permission slip and mostly without even asking her age.
The exception was Hollywood Tans in Chelsea, where the attendant said no one under 18 is welcome.
In all of the salons where the teen was accepted, she left without undergoing a session.
The Legislature enacted the laws on tanning in 2009 and is weighing a ban on anyone under 18 tanning. Such a ban is supported by the American Cancer Society.
Studies show that people who do indoor tanning before age 30 increase their risk of melanoma — the deadliest skin cancer — by 75 percent.