{"id":771771,"date":"2026-09-15T20:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T20:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/771771\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T20:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T20:48:10","slug":"social-media-is-promoting-harmful-attitudes-towards-sun-exposure-skin-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/771771\/","title":{"rendered":"Social media is promoting harmful attitudes towards sun exposure | Skin cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rising melanoma rates demand more than another awareness campaign (Editorial, 7 August<\/a>). As\u00a0a consultant dermatologist with a special interest in the health\u00a0impacts of social media, I see how digital platforms are normalising harmful attitudes towards sun exposure, while the sunbed industry thrives.<\/p>\n

Social media algorithms reward content that provokes strong reactions. Extreme tanning routines, dramatic before-and-after images and misleading health claims<\/a> can therefore travel further than balanced medical advice. I have previously raised the alarm about irresponsible sunbed advertising, including claims that sunbeds offer a net health benefit. Such promotion is indefensible: UV radiation from sunbeds is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen<\/a> by the World Health Organization\u2019s cancer agency.<\/p>\n

This is also a health-equity issue. Sunbed outlets are more densely concentrated in deprived communities. Although people with lighter skin tones face the greatest skin-cancer risk, no skin tone is immune. This matters increasingly as climate change and\u00a0warmer weather alter patterns\u00a0of outdoor behaviour and\u00a0UV exposure.<\/p>\n

The government should place a national skin-cancer prevention strategy at the heart of its national cancer plan<\/a>. We should combine practical behaviour-change programmes, community-led education and better support for early detection. Australia<\/a>, Brazil and Iran have banned commercial sunbeds; the UK should follow<\/a>. It is easy to dismiss their example as relevant only to traditionally hotter countries; in a warming world, that\u00a0argument no longer holds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prevention must begin in childhood.<\/a> Schools can register with Sun Safe Schools<\/a>, run by the skin cancer charity Skcin, to embed sun-safe habits early. This should be paired with digital literacy that teaches children to question online health claims, recognise commercial influence and understand how algorithms shape their feeds.<\/p>\n

Awareness matters, but we need safer environments, responsible regulation and lasting cultural change to help shape our futures.
Dr Amy Perkins
Consultant dermatologist, Glasgow<\/p>\n

Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please email<\/a> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters<\/a> section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rising melanoma rates demand more than another awareness campaign (Editorial, 7 August). As\u00a0a consultant dermatologist with a special…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-771771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}