The Guardian view on calls to ban sunbeds: prevention in healthcare raises hard questions about risks | Editorial

Regulating unhealthy habits is difficult. But if ministers intend to reduce illness, clarity and courage will be required

Calls by cancer experts to ban sunbeds in the UK will not be heeded straight away. So far, no minister or opposition party has signalled support for a step that many would regard as overly restrictive. Nor has the public been consulted. While World Cancer Research Fund (a British charity) supports a ban, Cancer Research UK has stuck to issuing warnings.

But with skin cancer rates rising, and evidence that the existing ban on children using sunbeds is being flouted, it is unsurprising that cancer doctors think more should be done. The ban on children using commercial sunbeds in the UK was introduced in 2010. Since then, Australia has banned such businesses altogether. Prof Paul Lorigan and the other authors of an article in the British Medical Journal argue that a law like Australia’s would be the most cost-effective way of cutting melanoma cases – even if it included compensation for businesses. Evidence suggests that young women in deprived parts of northern England are at particular risk.

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