SUNBEDS WILL SOON be banned for anyone aged under 18.
An Act has been signed into force by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.
It’s expected that the ban will commence before the end of next month.
This means that the scores of young people who would previously have lined up to scorch their skin in preparation for their graduation ball, won’t be able to do so.
The Act has been welcomed by environmental health officers who will enforce its provisions.
Chair of the Environmental Health Association of Ireland (EHAI), Caitriona Stack, said:
“We know that a substantial proportion of those using sunbeds are young people, especially girls.
Their use becomes particularly intense around debs season and before summer holidays when sunbeds are used to give skin a so-called ‘base-tan’. We also know that using sunbeds at a young age can increase the risk of malignant melanoma by as much as 75%.
When fully implemented the Act will also provide for bans on advertising and marketing of sunbeds and require mandatory training for sunbed operators.
The HSE Environmental Health Service will be writing to sunbed business operators to advise them of the new legal provisions and what they will need to do to comply.
Stack added that, “the most rapidly increasing cancers in the world are those of the skin, both melanoma and non-melanoma in both sexes.
The danger surrounding sunbed use and overexposure to UV rays is very real.
“It’s time to protect vulnerable young skin from these dangers and our members are willing and ready to do so.”
A web page will be set up to give information about the new laws as they come on stream.
It will also provide details of how the public may lodge a complaint with the HSE Environment Health Service in relation to children under 18 being permitted to use sunbeds.’
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