Children under 18 could be banned from using sunbeds under proposals set out today, as a report warns that those as young as eight are putting their health at risk by using tanning machines.

About 170,000 under16s in Britain use sunbeds, according to a survey that coincides with a consultation document which could result in tougher regulations.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) suggests that children under 18 should be banned from using tanning beds. The Department of Health asked the HSE to review its guidance on the use of sunbeds to replace rules set out in 1995. More than 100 deaths from skin cancer every year in Britain are thought to be linked to the use of sunbeds. Accepted health advice in Britain is that under16s and fair-skinned adults who burn easily should never use a sunbed.

A survey by Which?, the consumer organisation, found that about 3 per cent of all under16s have used a sunbed.

The industry trade body, The Sunbed Association (TSA), instructs its members to ban under16s and to advise people with fair skin to avoid sunbeds, but its membership is only a quarter of Britain’s 6,000 salons. Other salons are not regulated at all.

According to the Department of Health there is a fear that there are too many “dodgy” backroom sunbed shops, and the industry is largely unregulated.

The Department of Health says skin cancer rates are forecast to triple over the next 20 to 30 years. Research has shown that under35s could be 75 per cent more likely to develop malignant melanoma if they use sunbeds.

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