New Coalition Against Sunbeds group calls for ‘blanket ban’ on sunbeds

A new group in Ireland is calling on the Government to give a timeline for when it will introduce a ‘blanket ban’ sunbeds.

The Coalition Against Sunbeds is made up of the Irish Cancer Society, the Irish Skin Foundation, Melanoma Support Ireland, the Irish Association of Dermatologists, the Irish College of GPs, Breakthrough Cancer Research, the Marie Keating Foundation and others.

The Programme for Government has already committed to exploring the feasibility of a sunbed ban, and the Department of Health’s Sunbed Working Group recommended a ban on commercial sunbeds earlier this year.

While the coalition has welcomed this, it is calling for a total ban of all sunbeds, including those in a residential setting.

According to the group, sunbed use increases a person’s risk of developing melanoma, with the risk increasing by 75% for people who use sunbeds before the age of 35. The number of people who will be diagnosed with melanoma is set to double by 2045, it added.

It said that the banning of sunbeds would help save lives by decreasing risk factors for melanoma, and save the taxpayer around €9.7m a year in costly treatments.

The group also said that around 120,000 people in Ireland use sunbeds, and one in 20 children aged between 10 and 17 has used sunbeds, despite legislation prohibiting their use by young people under 18.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Professor Anne-Marie Tobin, consultant dermatologist in Tallaght University Hospital, pointed to the ‘clear link’ between sunbeds and skin cancer.

“The World Health Organisation categorises sunbeds as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning their cancer risk is in the same category as tobacco and asbestos exposure,” she noted.

“As 5.4% of melanomas, the most serious and dangerous form of skin cancer, are directly linked to sunbed use, this means over 70 people are diagnosed with melanoma in Ireland each year due to sunbeds.”

The Sunbed Association, which represents tanning salon operators in Ireland and the UK, said that a blanket ban would move the industry into homes, back rooms and to underground black market settings, without any supervision or enforcement.

Speaking on same programme, chairman Gary Lipman said overexposure to UV is what causes issues, and that the statistics being used are at least 20 years old.

“We check for age verification to make sure that no one is under 18,” he explained. “And we make sure that the sunbeds they use are appropriate and the session time is recorded, and that people don’t overexpose themselves.”

“There’s a clear example in Australia, where they banned professional sunbeds, and those beds were then transported into people’s homes and they’re now being used by the public without any form of supervision, without any form of regulation. The key problem here is that the Government has been woefully negligent in implementing EU regulations.”