State is right to require parents' OK of piercings

Editorials

Discussion

COMMENTING ON STORIES:

Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.

Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.

Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.

For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.

Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.

RULES OF CONDUCT:

We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:

1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.

WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:

1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:

1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.

WE WELCOME:

1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.

MONITORING:

We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.

comments powered by Disqus

August 1, 2012

State is right to require parents' OK of piercings

Anonymous Daily Star The Daily Star Sat Sep 22, 2012, 03:33 PM EDT

To pierce or not to pierce?

That is no longer the question in New York state for those under the age of 18 who don't have a parent's permission.

A bill passed overwhelmingly by the state Legislature was signed into law Monday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

It takes effect 88 days from now, and anyone younger than 18 will have to have written permission from a parent or guardian to have any body part other than ears pierced.

This comes on the heels of last month's state action banning children 16 and younger from indoor tanning beds. Existing law prohibits tattoos for those under 18.

In "M*A*S*H," we loved Hawkeye Pierce.

We think James Bond was well-portrayed by Pierce Brosnan.

We could even appreciate "Mildred Pierce."

But for the life of us, we don't quite understand the allure of piercing anything other than an ear or two.

And yet, we see more and more young people with metal in their noses, lips, tongues, eyebrows and places we would rather not contemplate.

All well and good. This is America, after all, land of the free. That certainly includes the freedom for individuals to get piercings.

Unless, of course, they are under 18. Society figures that people who haven't reached that age aren't capable of making sound decisions. If you're under a certain age, you can't vote, serve in the Armed Forces or have sex legally.

So, it stands to reason that you aren't ready to make a good call on whether to stick a metal object through your belly button.

"Body piercing can result in severe health risks and it is our obligation as New Yorkers and parents to make sure that our teens are taking every precaution to remain healthy and safe," Cuomo said in a statement.

Cuomo's office warned against hepatitis from piercings and said that 20 percent of body piercings result in infections.

State Sen. Joseph Robach and Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz co-sponsored the bill.

"As body piercings can often result in infection and a permanent scar, it seems logical that parents should be involved in the decision," Robach said in a statement.

"There are 31 states that prohibit body piercing on minors without parental permission," said Simanowitz in a statement, "and I am now glad to say New York is the 32nd."

Well, so are we.

Once young people reach 18, they can do as they please. There's even a Church of Body Modification in Texas that began in 1999 and has about 1,000 members who advocate growing "as individuals through body modification and its teachings" to "promote growth in mind, body and spirit."

But, in New York, at least, not until you're at least 18.