Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 47: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her views on the use of and if she has plans to regulate artificial sun tanning establishments. [5442/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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My Department has no role in the regulation of sunbeds or sunbed operators. Sunbeds are not medical devices and are not regulated under the medical devices directive. Existing consumer legislation sets standards for tanning equipment and requires appropriate warning notices to be displayed on the equipment. However, no medical procedure is involved in the use of sunbeds and their use does not have to be supervised by a medical practitioner.

The General Product Safety Directive 2001/95/ EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 3 December 2001 came into force on 15 January 2004. This EU directive was transposed into Irish law by S.I. No. 199 of 2004. These regulations are known as the European Communities (General Product Safety) Regulations 2004 and came into effect on 4 May 2004.

The general product safety directive puts the onus on producers to place only safe products on the market. Distributors are obliged to act with due care to help to ensure compliance, in particular by not supplying products which they know or should have presumed on the basis of the information in their possession, do not comply with the applicable safety requirements of the directive. The Director of Consumer Affairs has responsibility for the enforcement of the general product safety regulations.

The advice from my Department is that sunbeds should be used in moderation and that people should seek the advice of their doctor before doing so for the first time. In certain circumstances exposure to sunbeds may constitute a hazard. Sunbeds should not be used by persons under 16 years of age, persons who burn easily or tan slowly or poorly, those taking drugs or using cosmetics thought to be photoactive, those suffering from skin disorders induced or aggravated by exposure to sunlight, those with a history of skin cancer, and those with risk factors for cutaneous melanoma.

The health promotion unit of my Department works in partnership with the Irish Cancer Society to develop health promotion programmes with communities and workplaces and to undertake regular public information and awareness campaigns that focus on cancer prevention, risk prevention and early detection. A consumer information sheet on possible risks from sunbeds and sunlamps and the appropriate precautions is available from the Irish Cancer Society.