Laws covering texting, tanning beds, trans fat take effect in 2010

[alp227]

(CNN) -- Legislatures in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico met in 2009, leading to the enactment of 40,697 laws, many of which take effect January 1.

The new laws cover a variety of areas, from texting and tanning beds to human trafficking and seat-belt safety.

New Hampshire, Oregon and Illinois join 16 other states that prohibit motorists from sending text messages while driving.

Gloria Wilhelm fought for the Illinois law after her son, Matt, was struck and killed while he was riding his bike by a driver who was downloading cell phone ring tones.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/01/01/new.laws/index.html

The CNN article also has a slideshow explaining new state laws around the nation that cover health, safety, animals, and crime. Quite a bit of comments following the article complain about these laws being nanny state status.

[Warpy]

1. I remember when tanning beds first came out in the early 60s

A high school friend's family owned a chain of gyms and spas and installed one as a novelty. My friend tried it out and fell asleep in it.

She was lucky to be Mediterranean instead of burn and peel Irish, but I felt sorry for her for about a week, coming to school in her mother's muu muu with no undies because she couldn't stand the pain.

It's kept me away from them completely, never mind they now have timers and people who are supposed to limit your time if the timer fails.

Since skin cancer rates are shooting up among people who were heavy users of those things, I think we can conclude that some nanny state laws are in order, at least when they're paying for the privilege. Lots of industries need some safety guidelines. People who are absolutely determined to be stupid can buy their own damn tanning beds.