Government must adopt advice to ban sunbeds

Subject: Health and safety

The government must adopt tough new recommendations to ban unsupervised sunbed salons and to prohibit the use of sunbeds by the under 18s, a leading environmental health organisation has said.

The comments follow recommendations made by an expert advisory committee calling on tougher regulation of the sunbed industry.

The CIEH has long campaigned for stricter control on the use of artificial tanning equipment, because of the risks to health. Skin cancer is now the most common form of cancer in the UK, with over 10,400 malignant melanoma cases and at least 81,500 non-melanoma skin cancers recorded in 2006.[1]

CIEH Principal Policy Officer Jenny Morris said:

“It’s great that the risks have now been recognised and that action is proposed to protect young people.

“We would like to see further action to fully license sunbed salons as there is plenty of evidence that better controls are needed for everyone.

“The recommendations must be rapidly turned into law if lives are to be saved.”

Intermittent high dose rate UV radiation exposure is associated with increased risk of melanoma at all ages of life.

The recommendations come from the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE), an expert advisory committee which offers independent advice to all government departments. COMARE recommends:

• Prohibiting the use of commercial sunbeds by under 18s
• Prohibiting the unsupervised use and/or self determined operation of sunbeds in commercial outlets
• All commercial outlets should be licensed/registered, with equipment that adheres to British Standard
• Salons to have trained and competent staff
• Salons would be required to provide detailed written information on the health risks associated with the use of sunbeds
• Commercial outlets should be prohibited from promoting unproven health benefits of sunbed use.

The COMARE report concludes there is evidence which suggests an increased risk of skin cancer among those who use sunbeds before the age of 35.

Notes to editors

• The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) is the professional voice for environmental health. It ensures the highest standards of professional competence in its members, in the belief that through environmental health action people's health can be improved 
• The CIEH represents over 10,000 members working in the public, private and non-profit sectors. For more information about the CIEH visit www.cieh.org 
• For further information please contact James Davis on 0207 827 6303 or email j.davis@cieh.org.