* A young skin cancer survivor spoke Thursday about her experiences with tanning beds.

Kate Neale joined the Canadian Cancer Society ― and 80 volunteers and staff ― at Queen’s Park to lobby for a new private member’s bill to ban people under 18 from tanning.

"I started tanning when I was 16 and Paris Hilton was my idol," Neale told reporters. She’s now 22, and she spends her spare time educating youth about what she called the “brainwashing” of salon and celebrity culture.

In response to Neale and the CCS’s plea, the Joint Canadian Tanning Association released a statement saying its industry has been calling for provincial standards. Some of JCTA’s current voluntary practices they would like to see legislated include:

Parental consent needed for under-18 tanners;
Protective eye wear mandatory; and
Training and equipment standards and certification

The industry also said the Cancer Society's statistics on the carcinogenic effects of tanning are misleading. It said studies show the weighted increase of melanoma in tanning-bed users is just six per cent when adjusted for home and medical tanning units.

JCTA president Steve Gilroy said: “Removing Skin Type 1 cases from the studies eliminates the increase in risk entirely and may actually show all tanners have a lower risk in this data set.”

* Liberal MPP Helena Jaczek gazed across at Opposition members during a 20 minute recess at the Finance and Economic Affairs committee Thursday and then turned to Liberal colleague Phil McNeely:

"Phil, you know what my horoscope says today?" Jaczek asked. " 'Some people are going to be difficult to get along with today.'

"How true," McNeely replied.

* The public, not to mention the media and others, won't be able to listen in on Hamilton police and fire calls once the city adopts a new $23 million encrypted communication system in June.

* Unusually low water levels in the Grand River watershed have prompted an alert asking residents to reduce water use by 10 per cent.

* Peel Regional Police have introduced an interactive crime mapping system for Brampton and Mississauga.

Seen, heard, happening . . .

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