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Lisa’s story is exceptional but succumbing to multiple skin cancers following sunbed use is not.
Spring 2022 has arrived, the UK weather is traditionally variable but thoughts still turn to shorts, other parts of our body re-emerging and sunlit beaches.
Looking the part seems to matter, with pale skin not in tune. A few sessions on a sunbed should cure that and there are good offers around, colour apart, we’ll feel better and did read this is good for your health.
The trouble is, the only place you are likely to have read this is on places promoting sunbeds. You don’t need one to boost vitamin D production, lower your blood pressure, or improve skin condition, when the opposite is more likely.
Clear Evidence
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, has classified sunbeds as a Group 1 carcinogen. They sit on the same list as asbestos, exhaust fumes, tobacco and plutonium.
Getting on this list is not about probably, or possibly, the highest level of evidence is required that a substance, or action causes cancer. Every rational piece of research over several decades has come to the same conclusion.
Wider reviews of research by established organisations, from Cancer Research UK, to the EU Scientific Committee on Health endorse this conclusion. Their findings tend to focus on accepted points.
Sunbeds act as an initiator and promoter of skin cancer, causing melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma, along with increasing the risk of basal cell carcinoma and ocular melanoma. A sunbed can bring damage at any age, although more when you are younger.
Why Are They Available?
A fair question and they are banned in some countries, such as Brazil and Australia. Others have introduced restrictions, almost all countries in Europe prevent use for people under 18, including the UK.
There are meant to be restrictions on levels of UV provided but these are often not kept to, in any event, there is no such thing as a safe level.
The argument for not banning sunbeds commercially is based on personal choice. A point we should all respect but much else which is harmful seems not to be viewed the same, neither does the choice only relate to the individual.
Serious illness, or death affect more than just an individual. The costs and disruption this can bring also impact on wider society.
We could beg you to stay away and will if this helps but personal choice is the rule. So you are entirely free to make your own choice and skin cancer treatment is available, or you could avoid the cost, discomfort and deep concern.