Ashington mum calls for sunbeds to be banned

Jun 21 2009 by Paul Loraine, Sunday Sun

A REPORT out this week said a staggering 100 people are killed by sunbeds each year in the UK. Is now the time to ban them completely? Paul Loraine reports.

A DEBATE over sunbeds has been ignited this week after a report called for more protection of children against their perceived dangers.

The report, by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (Comare), said at least 100 people are killed by sunbeds each year in the UK and many hundreds more suffer malignant cancers or disfiguring injuries.

The experts who put the report together called for all sunbed operators to be legally registered, licensed and inspected by local authorities. They also suggested a total ban on unsupervised or coin-operated sunbeds, and a legal lower age limit of 18.

But for some, their guidance to the Government did not go far enough.

Anne Johnson, 65, lost her 25-year-old daughter Emma to skin cancer in 1998.

After regularly using sunbeds, Emma found an enlarged mole and was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. She died two years later after losing her sight and undergoing operations, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Anne, from Ashington, said: “In my view they should be completely banned.

“They are not properly controlled. Anyone can walk in and the risks are enormous.

“Naturally it’s appealing to young people who don’t know the consequences. I personally didn’t know the full-blown consequences of malignant melanoma.

“I was ignorant and I thought if you found a mole, out it came and that was that.