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Sunbed salons will carry "high risk" warnings after a London council vowed to combat "tanorexia".
Councillors in Barnet are sending hit squads into salons to check under-18s are not being allowed to use them. They are also raising the licence fee to £385 from £305.
The change will put sunbed salons on the same level of licence required by tattoo and piercing parlours, because of their health risk.
Matthew Offord, Barnet's community safety leader, said: "We don't want to close these places down, but we would be neglecting our public health role if we didn't take action to suitably regulate the borough's sunbed facilities."
A study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, published at the end of July, states that sunbeds are "definitively carcinogenic".
London is the only region of England that requires sunbed salons to have a licence and Barnet is the first borough to class them as "high-risk" premises.
But Chris Stylianou, owner of the Tanning Salon in High Barnet, said: "A cancer risk only relates to over-exposure. With Britain's lack of sunshine, sunbeds are a healthy way to get vitamin D."
Medical experts have warned of a skin cancer timebomb caused by "binge-tanning" which has made malignant melanoma more common than cervical cancer. The deadliest form of skin cancer has also become the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in their twenties for the first time.
Figures show by the age of 24 almost half have damaged the skin on their faces through sunbathing.
An 11-year-old girl was recently warned she has the skin of a 25-year-old after becoming addicted to sunbeds.
Reader views (6)
If the safety lobby had not got the UVB levels produced by sun beds reduced they would not be so dangerous. Most sun beds in the UK produce very little hard UVB which is needed to make vitamin d. The UVB was removed because it was thought to cause cancer, but by not understanding the problem fully they made it worse. Higher vitamin d levels reduces the risk of skin burn and so reduces the cancer risk. My tortoise has a better designed sun lamp.
To get a good long lasting tan with little risk of sun burn, take 5,000IU of vitamin d3 a day, the tan you build up in the sun or sun bed will last for months.
- Pete, Merseyside, 16/09/2009 23:18
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There should be a health tax on sunbed, as with smoking and alcohol, to fund the increase burden on the NHS. It is then up to the individual to self select destruction as part of natural selection.
Policing and campaigns are a waste of public money.
- Tohk, London, 16/09/2009 21:45
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Trivia and a waste of my money.
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, Hants, 16/09/2009 19:41
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A waste of taxpayers money. I wonder how many of these hit squads will just spend their time under a sun bed.
You are better off spending the money on reducing crime
and helping the elderly.
- Frank, Copenhagen, Denmark, 16/09/2009 10:27
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We need an army of inspectors with clipboards, peaked caps, sweeping powers of forced entry, a huge database, high salaries, final salary pension schemes, call centres, expensively produced public information films running on TV several hours a day for years on end. Commission endless studies, set up and run fake charities which are really disguised quango's and make endless scary predicions in the tabloid press. etc etc.
Yep that's Nu Liebours approach. Should soak up some of that excess taxpayers cash thats floating around Westminster.
Or you could just treat people like they had a brain and could take responsibility for their own actions.....nah that won't catch on.
- Ethan, UK, 16/09/2009 10:12
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If you want to know where your taxes are going to, then this is a great example of where.
There is one fundamental question underlying this idea, which certainly seems worthy enough.
The thing is, do you want to pay less tax and have the council provide essential services-policing, road cleaning, lighting, rubbish removal, care for the elderly etc.
Or do you want to pay a lot more in tax for councils to involve themselves on non-essential business such as this?
I'd rather keep the money in my pocket thanks, and if I want to fry myself on a sunbed, then that's my problem.
- Ted, London UK, 16/09/2009 09:19
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