Tanning Salons (From Western Telegraph)

Tanning Salons

11:20am Wednesday 27th May 2009

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Last week I proposed new legislation that would enable stricter regulation of tanning salons in Wales. What I want to see is for licensing powers over tanning salons and body piercing studios to be brought to the Assembly in order to enforce stricter regulation. We’ve all heard and read about the series of recent incidents where young girls have suffered severe burns following excessive use of sun beds in unsupervised salons. Most recently a ten year old girl from Port Talbot suffered burns over 70% of her body after spending 16 minutes on an unsupervised sun bed. As a result of the burns she had to be treated overnight at a burns unit in Swansea, the girl’s mother is calling for an investigation. It has been proven that these unsupervised salons are dangerous, but at present the Welsh government is unable to do anything about it. The Health and Safety Executive has made recommendations on the regulation of unsupervised tanning salons but the London Labour government has failed to take any concrete action on this very serious matter. We are not just talking about short term injuries here, we are talking about injuries which could possibly scar someone for life, or lead to further complications such as, skin cancer.” I am not looking to have tanning salons and other such premises banned, I just want to ensure that they are as safe as possible. It cannot be acceptable that the law allows for a situation that results in a young child suffering 70% burns