Impact Of An Outright Ban On Commercial Sunbeds In Australia
Craig SINCLAIR, Cancer Council Victoria, Australia
ZOUZOUNIS S. 3
,
DUNSTONE K. 1
,
CLEAVES N. 3
,
MAKIN J. 2
1 Cancer Council Victoria, Victoria, Australia
2 University of Tasmania, Tasmania Australia
3 Department of Health and Human Services, Victoria, Australia
On the 1st January 2015, five of six Australian States introduced an outright ban on all commercial artificial tanning sunbeds. The remaining State, Western Australia, introduced similar legislative controls effective from the 1st January 2016.
An outright ban on all commercial artificial tanning sunbeds effectively removes the right of commercial operators to provide any sunbed services to the general public.
The decision by all state governments in Australia to endorse an outright ban was significant by global standards. While well over 20 countries have implemented controls to restrict under 18 access to commercial sunbeds, only Brazil had implemented a similar outright ban in 2009
As result of an outright ban, there was no noticeable increase in the number of advertisements advertising sunbeds to the private market and the strong enforcement checking by government health authorities ensured compliance by commercial operators was very good in respect to their obligations under the new legislation.
The introduction of an outright ban of commercial sunbeds has been a significant success, not only from the point of view that artificial tanning sunbeds, an instrument that is well known to be the primary cause of melanoma has been removed from the commercial sector, but also because any potential adverse health consequences have been largely adverted for future generations.