Scientists in England say a ban on sunbeds ‘could save lives’ 

Scientists in England say a ban on sunbeds ‘could save lives’ 

Scientists in England suggest a ban on sunbeds “could save lives” 

According to the BBC, a team of scientists from the University of Manchester and Australia, a county that has already banned sunbeds, conducted research pertaining to health implications in relation to indoor tanning. 

Research collated in the British Journal of Dermatology suggests there could be 1,200 fewer cases, and 200 fewer deaths, in the lifetimes of the 18-year-olds they projected the model on. 

Furthermore, the same model was applied to England, which suggested it could save the NHS around £700,000. 

However, the Sunbed Association has argued against the findings, saying they “utterly refute” claims made by the study. 

Professor Adele Green, an expert in health and disease from the University of Manchester told Radio 1 Newsbeat:  

“We tracked the impact a total ban would have on 620,000 18-years-olds in England” 

Additionally, Green stated they wanted to educate people about the real risks linked with sunbed usage, adding: 

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding about sunbeds, such as it provides vitamin D and it gives protective tans, I’m afraid both of these are incorrect” 

“What sunbed exposure does is bring on premature aging and wrinkling of the skin as well as eye problems and high risks of skin cancer” 

In response to the findings, The Sunbed Association said: 

“We utterly refute the mathematically theoretical claims made in this study, not least because it relies heavily on data from studies conducted outside of the UK where the sunbed industry is not as well-regulated as it is here” 

“A tanning session in a professional sunbed salon in England uses sunbeds that are designed to comply with a British Standard that dramatically reduces any risk of burning” 

Conversely, Susanna Daniels, the CEO of Melanoma Focus, said: 

“There’s no such thing as a safe tan, particularly if you’ve got pale skin or lots of moles we would advise not using them” 

“Sunbeds give out greater doses of UV rays than the midday tropical sun and what these UV rays do is damage the DNA in your skin” 

(Image: Skin Cancer Foundation)