The use of solariums has been banned in Australia. Australia is one of the countries that has the most cases of people suffering from skin cancer, and 80% of newly diagnosed cancer cases are skin cancer, while in America 50% of the cases are . It is worrying that this disease affects more and more people under the age of 30. It is requested that solariums be placed in the same category of cancer-causing agents as smoking and asbestos.
Brazil has banned tanning beds completely, while in some American states the use of tanning beds is prohibited for minors. It is also required that solariums be labeled with a warning that they are harmful to health, similar to cigarettes. In Great Britain, Germany, France, some Canadian provinces and American states have banned the use of solariums for people under 18 years of age.
In Australia, in the state of Victoria, the ban has come into force and they hope that the number of sick people will decrease. The plan is for five Australian states to ban tanning beds completely by 2015. The popularity of solariums has jumped from the end of the nineties to today, and that among the population under 30 years old, even though Australia is a country with many sunny days. In addition to skin cancer, tanning beds can cause other problems such as premature aging, eye damage, etc.
The World Health Organization has included ultraviolet radiation in the 1st category of carcinogenic substances, which is on a par with cigarettes, toxic chemicals and X-radiation.
On the other hand, salon owners defend themselves with the fact that using a solarium is much safer than sunbathing, because you can control the index of UV rays.
The situation in Serbia is even worse, since the majority of used and untested solariums were imported from abroad, mostly from Slovenia. Nowhere is the time of its use nor any restrictions on the persons who can use it prescribed. Control is under the responsibility of the environmental protection inspector, which is wrong, because the influence of solariums is direct on people's health and that field should be regulated by the Ministry of Health. The regulations are currently being worked on and we hope they will be in force soon.
