Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to note that the issue I wish to raise this morning is also the subject of an Adjournment debate tabled for this evening by Senator John Crown. I refer to the lack of regulation of sunbeds in the State, despite commitments to regulate them by previous Governments and the current Government. Children under 18 and people with very fair skin can use sunbeds without any proper advice or supervision. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to legislate on this matter. I urge the Government to bring forward that legislation as a matter of urgency. There is evidence that there is a very strong link between sunbed use and skin cancer. In 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer placed sunbeds in the highest risk category and listed them as being as carcinogenic as tobacco and plutonium. Young people are particularly vulnerable. They are 75% more likely to develop melanoma if sunbed use starts before the age of 25. For every year that the legislation is delayed, as many as 28,000 people, according to the Irish Cancer Society, put their lives at risk in search of a suntan. I urge the Minister for Health to introduce the legislation in the next session of the Dáil. I am sure it will have the support of everybody in the House.