BAN SUNBEDS OR FACE ‘SKIN CANCER EPIDEMIC’

Expert says Irish skin cancer rate to rise by two-thirds

AN AUSTRALIAN skin cancer expert has called for sunbeds to be banned here as the country faces a ‘skin cancer epidemic’.

Craig Sinclair, director of the World Health Organisation’s Collaborative Centre for UV Radiation, has told the Government that such a ban worked for Australia.

He said this was just one of the urgent steps needed to be taken to halt Ireland’s skin cancer rate – set to rise by almost two-thirds by 2040.

Mr Sinclair, who is here for an Irish Cancer Society seminar today, warned that sunbed use is a major contributor to melanoma and they should be banned.

The top international expert, speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, said: ‘There should absolutely be a ban in Ireland of sunbeds.’

He said they have ‘absolutely no positive benefits’ and are a major contributor to melanoma.

‘When sunbeds were banned outright in Australia, people just accepted it and the industry had time to adapt their businesses.

‘Ireland has led the way in other public health initiatives so there is no reason why sunbeds can’t be banned here. They should be banned; they are so dangerous.’

Sunbeds were banned in Australia in 2014.

The Irish Cancer Society warned skin cancer cases are predicted to rise by almost two-thirds by 2040 to nearly 19,000 cases a year.

In 2015, there were 11,785 cases of skin cancer in Ireland with 1,118 of these melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.

Mr Sinclair said making sunbeds illegal would help to combat the predicted spiralling skin cancer rates, as would education about skin protection.

He added: ‘Skin cancer is one of the most preventable cancers. In Australia, we started innovative public awareness campaigns 30 years ago, and we are now seeing the results of these with a downward trend in melanoma cases in younger age groups.

‘It is vitally important that a comprehensive and wellresourced plan is put in place by the Irish government to tackle skin cancer in Ireland, or unfortunately, the significant human and financial burden of skin cancer will continue to increase.’

Donal Buggy, head of services and advocacy, at the Irish Cancer Society, said: ‘The National Cancer Strategy calls for the development of a national Skin Cancer Prevention Plan.

‘This was marked as a “priority” in the strategy and we are calling for its publication by the end of the year.

‘While we are pleased to note that work in the Department of Health is underway on this, there can be no room for delay in its publication.

‘Urgent steps need to be taken now to prevent skin cancer in Ireland into the future – including raising awareness of the dangers of sun exposure, and steps to further regulate the use of sunbeds, including a potential ban.

‘We need to see a comprehensive action plan with ambitious timelines to turn the tide against rising skin cancer rates.’

‘They have no positive benefits’