Campaign warns of dangers from using sunbeds (From The Northern Echo)

Sunderland has high level of sunbed use

9:03am Tuesday 2nd March 2010 in Sunbed Safety By Barry Nelson, Health Editor

HEALTH ALERT: Michelle Grimmer

A HARD-HITTING national campaign warning young women about the cancer dangers of sunbeds will be launched in the North-East today.

Sunderland was chosen for the launch of Cancer Research UK’s month-long campaign because of the city’s high level of sunbed use and large number of tanning booths.

A recent survey showed that half of girls in Sunderland aged 15 to 17 used sunbeds.

Hundreds of posters will be on display around the city giving a stark illustration of the link between sunbed use and skin cancer.

Melanoma skin cancer is now the most common cancer in young adults aged 15 to 34.

About 660 women in this age group in the UK are diagnosed with melanoma each year. The disease kills about 25 young women aged 15 to 34 in the UK every year, and rates are predicted to rise.

Skin cancer is caused by too much exposure to UV rays, which come from the sun and sunbeds. People who first use a sunbed at a young age are particularly at risk from the damaging effects – using a sunbed for the first time before the age of 35 increases the risk of melanoma by 75 per cent.

Sunderland University student and mother-of-two Michelle Grimmer was shocked when she was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 2007.

Mrs Grimmer, 38, who lives in Jarrow, South Tyneside, was a regular sunbed user from the age of 18.

She said: “I started using a sunbed in my late teens because I wanted to look tanned when I went out with my friends.

“It made me feel more confident.

I did not know there were any risks involved. Even when a mole under my arm changed colour and my GP referred me to hospital, I still did not think anything would be wrong.”

Following the removal of the mole and further tests, Mrs Grimmer was told she had a malignant melanoma.

She said: “It was really difficult breaking the news to my husband. Our daughters were just five and seven years old at the time and it was terrible thinking about the impact on them.”

Mrs Grimmer needed further surgery to check the cancer had not spread, which left her with a large scar on her side.

The Northern Echo launched its Sunbed Safety campaign in 2008 after Darlington schoolgirl Katie Turner was hospitalised with severe sunburn following a 20-minute session under lamps at a local salon.

In January, in a victory for the campaign, a proposed law that could stop teenagers using sunbeds received its second reading in Parliament.

MPs approved a Bill that would place a duty on salon operators to prevent the use of sunbeds by under-18s and give officials the power to inspect businesses and penalise owners who breach the ban.