Sunbeds should be banned in UK, skin cancer experts say

Sunbeds are so dangerous they should be banned in the UK, cancer experts and campaigners say.

They have urged ministers to order the closure of the thousands of tanning salons operating across Britain, using public funds to compensate owners if necessary.

Commercial sunbeds play such a damaging role in causing skin cancer, and a ban on under-18s using them is so widely flouted, that an outright ban is justified, they argue in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

“An immediate outright ban on commercial sunbeds alongside public education offers the most cost-effective solution to reduce skin cancer, save lives and ease the burden on the NHS,” they say.

The call comes from experts at the Christie cancer hospital in Manchester, including Prof Paul Lorigan, campaigners from the British charity Melanoma Focus and a skin cancer specialist in Australia whose work helped persuade its government to ban sunbeds in 2016.

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Source: The Guardian, 1 October 2025