She said the report of the sunbed working group and the Department of Health\u2019s sunbeds workshop report will \u201cinform” future work on the Programme for Government commitment to explore ways to outlaw commercial sunbed .<\/p>\n
The Working Group examined the health evidence, regulatory framework and international experience and considered a range of policy options, with members advocating for a ban on commercial sunbed use as the most effective, evidence-based approach to reduce the harmful effects of sunbeds, particularly among children and young people.<\/p>\n
She said the workshop report demonstrated broad consensus for enhanced action, integrating legislative reform, enforcement, and increased public awareness.<\/p>\n
A third report, on the Public Consultation on Sunbed Use in Ireland, is being finalised and will be published shortly.<\/p>\n
The three reports will be considered together along with legal, economic and EU considerations, before policy proposals are brought to Government for decision.<\/p>\n
Minister Murnane O\u2019Connor said: \u201cWe know that sunbed use is linked to increased risk of skin cancer, so we must take strong action that protects our population from this preventable harm.\u201d<\/p>\n
The workshop report said that banning commercial sunbed use offers significant public health benefits, clarity of messaging, and potential long term healthcare savings, but raises concerns around enforcement, economic impact on small businesses, civil liberties, and potential black market activity.<\/p>\n
Managing or restricting use can improve compliance and reduce harm but may not fully protect under-18s. It may unintentionally signal that sunbeds remain \u201csafe enough\u201d and may be undermined by misinformation and online marketing.<\/p>\n
Participants highlighted the need for sustained public health campaigns, targeted outreach to young people and vulnerable groups; and collaboration with influencers, schools, healthcare professionals and communities.<\/p>\n
There was broad consensus that enhanced action is required, and that Ireland has an opportunity to show leadership in reducing skin cancer by considering a ban on commercial sunbed use.<\/p>\n
The working group report said that while the public health sunbeds legislation has improved overall regulation and awareness, it has not succeeded in reaching the policy objective of eliminating sunbed usage by those under 18 years of age.<\/p>\n
Evidence from the commercial sunbed ban in Australia demonstrated a reduction in the availability of UV emitting devices. Longterm benefits to the health of the population and a reduction in healthcare costs are expected to result.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the commercial ban on sunbed use has only been in place in Australia for 10 years, it is possibly too early for any empirical research to show evidence of skin cancer reduction due to the long latency period associated with some skin cancers. Economic modelling studies predict that a ban on commercial sunbed use, combined with a public information awareness campaign, would lead to a reduction in skin cancer related deaths and associated healthcare cost savings,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
Based on the available evidence, the majority of the group concluded that maintaining the status quo or introducing additional legislation would not significantly reduce sunbed related harms. The public health rationale for a ban on commercial sunbed use \u201cis compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skin cancers are the most commonly diagnosed cancers in Ireland, with over 11,000 cases diagnosed each year. This accounts for one third of all invasive cancers<\/p>\n
The risk of developing skin cancer is higher in people who first use sunbeds at an early age. People who first use sunbeds before the age of 20 years have a 47pc increased risk of developing melanoma.<\/p>\n
More frequent use of sunbeds is associated with higher risk. People who use a sunbed 10 or more times per year have 52pc increased risk of developing melanoma<\/p>\n
In addition to increasing skin cancer risk, sunbed use can cause eye-damage, sunburn and accelerated aging, and there is emerging evidence that sunbeds may be addictive, it said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She said the report of the sunbed working group and the Department of Health\u2019s sunbeds workshop report will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60,898],"class_list":["post-367667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news-ticker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}