An inquiry begins into whether tighter controls are needed over tanning salons after “ever younger” children are burned.The mother of a teenager who was burned using a sunbed has told members of the Welsh Assembly of the experience.
Kirsty McRea, 14, received first degree burns over 70% of her body after visiting an unstaffed tanning salon.
Her mother Jill told an assembly committee she was worried her daughter may have suffered long term damage to her skin.
She was addressing an assembly committee investigating the rules governing tanning salons in Wales, but should the rules be also reexamined in England?
Kirsty spent 19 minutes on the sunbed and her mother said it took about two weeks for the skin to heal superficially.
Representatives from Cancer Research UK told the committee that under 18s should not be permitted to use sunbeds and she called for unstaffed salons to be banned.
Kathy Banks, chief executive of the sunbed association, told the committee their members had an age restriction of 16. But the association was “not convinced” the age limit should be raised to 18 although they were debating the situation. But she said unstaffed salons were dangerous.
“Children egg each other on, and accidents can happen,” she said.
So what do you think about the salon on Moorland Rd?
AMs could recommend that ministers ask the UK government for the power to introduce new regulations. The committee inquiry comes after a number of children received burns following the use of sunbeds.
New rules governing the use of salons and coin-operated machines, including restrictions on under 18s, are due to come into force in Scotland by the end of the year. If, at the end of the inquiry, the committee feels more regulation is needed, members will make their recommendations to ministers in early autumn.
They would then need to request more powers from the UK government to bring in regulations via the current licensing frameworks used by local councils.
There is mounting public concern that ever younger children are regularly using sunbeds which have, in some cases, resulted in severe burns for some users.
Other cases highlighted in Wales include that of 10-year-old Kelly Thompson, from Port Talbot, who had to be treated at a burns unit in Swansea in April after spending 16 minutes on an unsupervised, coin-operated sunbed.