UNDER-18s are to be banned from using sunbeds in Wales after a teenager and a 10-year-old were hospitalised with burns, the Welsh minister for health, Edwina Hart, indicated yesterday.
In one of the cases, 14-year-old Kirsty McRae from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan was treated for first-degree burns last February after she went to a tanning salon in the town and used one of the machines unsupervised.
The owner of the Lextan shop, James Hadley, aged 25, from Neath, pleaded guilty to three health and safety regulation breach charges – but not guilty to four more – when he appeared before magistrates yesterday.
Speaking to a Welsh national assembly committee, the health minister said it was her intention to stop under-18s using sunbeds, and also to prohibit the operation of unstaffed salons, where customers simply use coin-operated machines.
The ban cannot come into force quickly, however, since it will require a combination of House of Commons legislation, plus regulations from the Welsh assembly, which has much less power than its Scottish counterpart.
Ms Hart, speaking after an investigation by the Western Mail newspaper, said medical research indicated that sunbeds could be responsible for 370 skin cancer cases and 100 deaths a year in the UK.
Children’s commissioner for Wales Keith Towler told the assembly committee that children’s use of sunbeds breached their right to health, adding that research showed that early use sharply increased the risk of skin cancer later.
Sunbeds have become increasingly powerful in recent years, medical experts say, and the World Health Organisation recently warned that 20 minutes’ exposure is equal to a full day in strong sun.
The mother of Ms McRae told an earlier Welsh assembly meeting that her daughter had to be given oxygen and an intravenous drip after she was rushed to hospital having spent 19 minutes on the sunbed.
Cancer Research UK said: “The more you use a sunbed the greater your risk of skin cancer. Using a sunbed once a month or more, can increase your risk of skin cancer by more than half. So when the tan fades, the damage remains.”