THE North-East scientist who has developed an early warning system for skin cancer believes a commercial test kit could soon be available.

Dr Mark Birch-Machin, a skin cancer specialist at Newcastle University, has developed a new way of assessing sun damage.

The test, which involves studying skin samples to find out whether DNA has been affected by sun exposure, might eventually be available in high street shops, according to Dr Birch-Machin, whose research is funded by Cancer Research UK.

"To begin with you would probably want to get people to send in a sample for testing but the next stage is to have a self-test. Then you would have your own personal record and you can change your lifestyle in accordance with that," said scientist Dr Birch-Machin.

The practicality of the new test was demonstrated on ITV1 last night when viewers were told that six girls who had been to Ibiza on holiday had various stages of sun damage.

Dr Birch-Machin was surprised that it was able to confirm that one of the girls suffered sun damage in only one week of exposure.

The test will make it possible for individuals to be told what risk they run of developing skin cancer.

"Many people ignore warnings about sunbathing because they think they are immune, but if someone says you are three times more likely to develop skin cancer because your DNA is already damaged you will quickly remember all the advice about seeking the shade, covering up and using sunscreen," he said.

Nationally, fewer than 40 per cent of people bother to apply high factor sunscreen despite more than 65,000 cases of skin cancer in the UK every year.

Dr Birch-Machin will be talking about his research on Monday, July 21 as part of a lecture series at the Live Theatre, Newcastle.