Campaign launched to protect young people from cancer-causing sunbeds

The Irish Cancer Society today launched a national campaign calling on Government to publish the long-awaited legislation to regulate sunbed use so that children and young people are protected from the risk of developing skin cancer. There is currently no regulation of sunbeds in Ireland, meaning that children under 18 and those with very fair skin can use sunbeds without proper warning or supervision. The Government committed to introducing legislation to regulate sunbed use in the Programme for Government. The Public Health (Sunbeds) Bill was due to published in 2012 but has been delayed.

Schoolchildren delivered a postcard to Oireachtas members reminding them of the Government’s promise to publish legislation to protect young people from using cancer-causing sunbeds. The postcard, designed by the Irish Cancer Society asks politicians to ensure that the legislation is prioritised over the summer recess. Members of the public are being asked to contact their local TD and to sign a petition to the Minister to Health here on the Society’s website.

Kathleen O’Meara, Head of Advocacy & Communications with the Irish Cancer Society said, “While the Government delays the publication of sunbed legislation, sunbed operators can exploit young people’s desire for a year round tan. Sunbed use is as carcinogenic as smoking and we need the Minister for Health to show the same degree of leadership that he has shown in combatting tobacco related illness and prioritise the introduction of this lifesaving legislation. There is widespread public and political support for sunbed regulation- our online SunSmart survey found that 93% of people support a ban on sunbeds, whether a complete ban (50% in favour) or a ban for under-18 year olds (43% in favour) and we see no reason why it should not be in place by the end of the year. Self-regulation of the industry is clearly not working and every year that the legislation is delayed, up to 28,000 young people’s lives are put at risk.”

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Aisling Mellet (12) from Rathfarnham and Elaine Crossan (12) from Rathfarnham deliver a postcard to Oireachtas members reminding them of the Government’s promise to publish legislation to protect young people from using cancer-causing sunbeds. The Irish Cancer Society launched a national campaign calling on Government to publish the long-awaited legislation to regulate sunbed use so that children and young people are protected from the risk of developing skin cancer. There is currently no regulation of sunbeds in Ireland, meaning that children under 18 and those with very fair skin can use sunbeds without proper warning or supervision.

There is a strong link between sunbed use and skin cancer. In 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) placed sunbeds in the highest cancer risk category and listed them as being as carcinogenic as tobacco and plutonium. Sunbed lamps are becoming more powerful and the estimated cancer risk from sunbeds has trebled in the last ten years. The average risk from sunbed use is now more than double that of spending the same amount of time in the midday Mediterranean sun without sun cream.

Skin cancer is the most common cause of cancer in Ireland. There were 9,450 cases of skin cancer in Ireland in 2010, and of these 896 cases were melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. Recent research shows men are more likely to die from melanoma than women Young people are particularly at risk of melanoma as there is a 75% increased risk of developing melanoma when sunbed use begins before the age of 30. Sunbed use among young people is a big problem in Ireland. Research conducted by the Society found that approximately 28,000 young people under the age of 25 are using sunbeds in Ireland each year. Two thirds of sunbed users began using sunbeds when they were under 25.

The majority of cases of skin cancer are caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun or from sunbeds and as such can be prevented but worryingly, the incidence of melanoma in Ireland has increased by 138% in Ireland from 1994 to 2010. There were 148 deaths from skin cancer in 2012.
Key provisions of The Public Health (Sunbeds) Bill will:

• Prevent anyone under 18 from using a sunbed in a sunbed premises;
• Prevent to sale or hire of sunbeds to anyone under 18;
• Prevent the unsupervised use of sunbeds in a sunbed premises;Require warning to be in place on sunbeds and for staff to make sunbed users aware of the dangers of sunbed use;
• Require sunbed operators to provide training for their staff.

The Society also wants to see people with the Type 1 and Type 2 skin- the fairest skin types prohibited from using sunbeds as is the case in Australia.