photo: Evil Erin/ BY

HOWARD COUNTY, MARYLAND-- Working on that summer look all year round? Under 18 and living in Howard County, Maryland? Then you're out of luck, mini-George Hamilton. The all volunteer Board of Health in the affluent Baltimore suburb has voted to require those under the age of consent to get a doctor's prescription to use a tanning bed.

Indoor tanning fans and salon owners are up in bronzed arms about the new regulation, but supporters of the ban site evidence that skin cancer rates in young women 18-34 is up 50 percent since the mid-80s.

Still unclear is how a 16 year old would get a prescription for a tan from a doctor. Then again, you can get prescriptions for all kinds of things in California, so a way is bound to be found.

Until then, good thing pale is in.

(via, ironically, the Baltimore Sun)