NEW RESEARCH PUBLISHED in the British Medical Journal has revealed that the risk of some types of skin cancer is increased by 20 per cent for those who use sunbeds.

The research also revealed that 794 people die each year in Europe from sunbed-induced skin cancer

The risk of melanoma is doubled if sunbeds are used before the age of 35, while more than five per cent of the almost 64,000 cases of malignant melanoma identified in Europe each year are diagnosed in sunbed users.

Studies from eighteen countries across Europe, including Ireland, were analysed to provide an overall picture. The researchers examined the prevalence of sunbed use in their subjects’ lifetimes.

One of the studies indicated that each annual sunbed session presents a 1.8 per cent increase in the risk of melanoma, while there is a 42 per cent increased risk for those who use the devices regularly.

Women accounted for most of the skin cancer cases relating to sunbeds with 6.9 per cent of all melanoma cases in women related to sunbed use.

In May Northern Ireland’s health minister Edwin Poots announced new legislation which bans people under the age of 18 from using, buying or hiring sunbeds. California has also banned the use of sunbeds for under 18s.

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