Beds are burning: Australia bans commercial sunbeds over cancer fears

Most Australian states and territories are set to ban commercial sunbeds from Thursday in a crackdown on artificial tanning. The ban – which comes into force in the states of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and in the Australian Capital Territory on January 1 – will make Australia the second nation after Brazil to impose such a restriction. Cancer Council Australia welcomed the ban, which it has long pushed for, adding that it would help to reduce rates of skin cancer in a country that has one of the highest rates in the world.

Queensland already has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world and there is no question there’s a direct link between regular sunbed use and the incidence of malignant melanoma.

Queensland’s interim Health Minister Mark McArdle

More than 2,000 Australians died from skin cancer in 2011, the majority from melanoma, which is caused by harmful ultraviolet light from the sun, the council added. Australia’s proximity to Antarctica, where there is a hole in the ozone layer which normally filters out UV rays, also increases the risk. Previous research suggested that the use of sunbeds by people aged 18 to 39 increases their risk of developing melanoma, the most common form of cancer among young Australians, by an average of 41 percent.

Health skin cancer