Killer sunbeds claim one life every three days, warn doctors

Published on Friday 19 June 2009 21:51

AT LEAST 100 people are killed by sunbeds each year in the UK, and many hundreds more suffer cancer or disfiguring injuries, a hard-hitting report revealed yesterday.

Experts led by a Glasgow-based doctor called for all commercial sunbed operators to be properly regulated, licensed and inspected.

The report – from the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (Comare) – follows two high-profile cases of children who were seriously injured by coin-operated sunbeds.

Last month it was reported that ten-year-old Kelly Thompson suffered 70 per cent burns to her body after spending 8 on a 16-minute session at a coin-operated tanning centre in Port Talbot, South Wales.

Another schoolgirl, Kirsty McRae, 14, suffered similar injuries in February after paying 4 for 19 minutes of tanning at a coin-operated centre.

The Scottish Parliament has already moved on the issue of sunbeds, passing a law last year banning their use by under-18s – a move experts want to see extended. Professor Alex Elliott, chair of Comare and based at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow, said: "We believe that sunbeds are causing upwards of 100 deaths per year in the UK.

"Plus you have the consequences of other types of non-malignant cancer which, although they don't kill you, can cause moles and disfigurement that need plastic surgery. The cost to the NHS is anywhere upwards of 200 million a year, so this is a fairly major problem."

Prof Elliott added that he had seen schoolchildren queuing outside a Scottish sunbed centre during their lunch break.

Comare wants to see anyone under the age of 18 barred by law from tanning parlours and a total ban on unsupervised or coin-operated sunbeds.

Current professional guidelines state under-16s should not use a sunbed. But in Scotland, a survey of 1,405 primary school children in 2004 found that almost 7 per cent of children aged eight to 11 had used a sunbed.

Kathy Banks, chief executive of the Sunbed Association (TSA), said: "TSA totally supports a ban on unstaffed tanning salons. Although unstaffed salons represent only 2 per cent of the total tanning outlets in the UK, where they exist they can cause a problem.

But she added: "TSA is not aware of any medical or scientific evidence to support the call for non-use by under-18s."