Sunbed children put health at risk
Updated on 13 November 2009
Over 250,000 children may be risking their health by using sunbeds, giving in to peer pressure in search of a tan according to two new surveys.
In a letter published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), experts said an average of 6 per cent of teenagers between the ages of 11 and 17 in England use sunbeds, and that rises to 11 per cent among those living in the north.
The average age of first use is 14.
In Liverpool and Sunderland, 50 per cent of girls aged between 15 and 17 use sunbeds, and more than two in five use them at least once a week.
Using sunbeds is known to increase the risk of developing malignant melanoma, a potentially fatal form of skin cancer which kills more than 2,000 people a year in the UK.
More than 10,400 cases of malignant melanoma were recorded in the UK in 2006. Cases have quadrupled since the 1970s.
Today's report is the latest in a series of investigations which have highlighted the danger of sunbeds.
Five months ago the International Agency for Research on Cancer re-clasified sunbeds as 'carcinogenic to humans', putting sunbed use into the highest cancer risk category.
And in July, the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) reported that using sunbeds before the age of 35 increases the risk of developing malignant melanoma - the most aggressive form of skin cancer - by 75 per cent. COMARE estimated that sunbeds may cause about 370 new cases of melanoma - and 100 deaths - each year in the UK.
Cancer Research UK is calling on the government to raise the legal age of using a tanning salon in England and Wales from 16 to 18 and to ban unstaffed tanning salons which have no checks on a user's age and are operated by coin. Scotland has already passed legislation to ban both and a similar law is being discussed by the Welsh Assembly.
But The Sunbed Association (TSA) has questioned Cancer Research UK's findings.
The association's chief executive Kathy Banks told Channel 4 News she would be "very surprised" if any 11 to 15-year-olds were using staffed tanning salons.
She added, "TSA agrees with Cancer Research UK that government should take action against [unstaffed] outlets. Cancer Research UK statistics show that one-quarter of children claimed to use sunbeds at home.
"It is the responsibility of the adult who purchased or hired the sunbed for home use to ensure that children do not have access to them."
She added that the TSA would not oppose a law to raise the legal age for using a tanning salon to 18.
Justine Sheils, a 37-year-old administrator from Liverpool, began using sunbeds when she was 15.
She was diagnosed with malignant melanoma five years ago and has since had operations to remove cancerous tumours from her chest and the top of her head.
She said: "The tanning salon was near my school and I used to go in for sunbed sessions on my way home.
"There was always an occasion like a party or an outing when I had the excuse to top up my tan.
"Now I see girls of 14 or 15 in their school uniforms going into that same salon I used to use and they come out looking like lobsters so the results of this survey are shocking but not surprising."
Six cities study
Of the 1035 young people surveyed in British cities the percentage of people using sunbeds is outlined below.
In areas with high density of sunbeds:
- 20% - Liverpool
- 6.8% - Stoke / Stafford
- 18% - Sunderland
In areas with low density of sunbeds:
- 6.6% - Bath / Gloucester
- 7.5% - Oxford / Cambridge
- 6.2% - Southampton
(http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/uk/sunbed+children+put+health+at+risk/3421997)
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