Sunbed salons ‘openly flout ban on youngsters'
It comes as new data obtained by Extra.ie points to a negligent attitude to customer health in the tanning industry, with one third of formal salon inspections having been failed in the past two years.
Responding to the revelations, the minister responsible for public health this weekend pledged to further examine banning sunbeds, calling the level of non-compliance 'unacceptable'.
According to the Public Health (Sunbeds) Act 2014, it is illegal for businesses to allow under-18s to use tanning beds. The UV-emitting machines have been shown to increase the risk of skin cancer after just a single use. One in five tanning salons is accepting minors in 'flagrant breaches' of the law, as cancer charities have warned that children as young as First Communion age are using sunbeds. Pic:According to the Department of Health, the risk of melanoma is increased by 75% when sunbed use starts before the age of 35.
The HSE, responsible for enforcing the safety legislation, sends supervised minors to tanning salons for 'test shops' as part of its enforcement strategy.
Last year, 11 out of 50 salons subjected to that test allowed minors to buy time on a sunbed, according to figures provided by the HSE. In 2023, nine out of 47 salons tested were prepared to allow a minor to use their business.
Bernie Carter, who is assistant director of nursing at the Marie Keating Foundation and leads a schools' programme and skin cancer awareness programme for the charity, said that there is 'definitely' an issue with minors illegally using sunbeds.
Ms Carter told Extra: 'I was outside a particular [tanning salon] around Holy Communion time last year. There was a parent who was walking in with a very young child. We had our van parked close by, and that young child did come out looking darker.'
The experienced oncology nurse, who contributes to the National Cancer Control Programme, said sunbeds pose a 'huge risk when it comes to skin cancer', and pointed to the approach of Australia, where commercial tanning salons are banned.
Steve Dempsey, director of advocacy and communications at the Irish Cancer Society, said regulations around sunbeds 'and a lack of enforcement mean that minors are still accessing sunbeds'. It comes as new data obtained by Extra.ie points to a negligent attitude to customer health in the tanning industry, with one third of formal salon inspections having been failed in the past two years.
He told Extra: 'We know this from our own research and from parents who contact us to say their child has used sunbeds in flagrant breaches of the regulations by commercial sunbed operators.'
A spokesman for Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Jennifer Murnane O'Connor, said she is 'deeply concerned by the data from the inspections'.
The spokesman told Extra: 'Given the well-documented health risks associated with sunbed use, particularly for young people, this level of non-compliance is unacceptable.
'To address this issue, the minister, under the Programme for Government, has requested that officials in the Department of Health examine a ban on commercial sunbed use in Ireland. 'Additionally, the department will explore further public awareness campaigns to highlight the risks of sunbed use, especially targeting minors and their parents.'
The lack of enforcement banning minors from using sunbeds was highlighted by Extra just over two years ago, when we reported just two salons in the entire country had been prosecuted under legislation introduced nine years previously.
The HSE this weekend confirmed there have now been 10 prosecutions in total – less than one a year since the legislation was introduced. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has previously called for the banning of sunbeds, as have former health ministers Stephen Donnelly and the now Tánaiste Simon Harris. Pic:Ms Murnane O'Connor has also received representations on the matter from her former constituency colleague and now MEP Kathleen Funchion, and from Laura Warren, a skin cancer survivor and founder of Elite Living Nutrition, whose petition calling for a ban on sunbeds has collected almost 2,000 signatures.
Pointing to the latest figures that show skin cancer is the fastest-growing cancer in Ireland, with over 13,000 new cases diagnosed each year, Ms Warren said: 'Melanoma can spread rapidly and is often deadly if not caught early. Banning sunbeds would save thousands of lives and millions in healthcare costs.'
Aside from the tests at shops carried out with minors, the HSE conducts 'mystery shops' and formal inspections. Last year, 145 formal inspections out of 492 were non-compliant. In 2023, there were 175 non-compliant inspections from a total of 425.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has previously called for the banning of sunbeds, as have former health ministers Stephen Donnelly and the now Tánaiste Simon Harris.
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