Children who use sunbeds 'at risk'
Updated on 25 February 2008
Tan-obsessed children are bullying pale youngsters as well as putting their own health at risk, it has been alleged.
The claim emerged as new figures showed that 60% of teenage girls in Liverpool are at risk of cancer.
Joint research involving 13 to 15-year-olds from two schools on Merseyside showed children are using sunbeds with dangerous regularity.
The research was carried out by Liverpool Primary Care Trust and the Merseyside and Cheshire Cancer Network.
Paul Mackenzie, of the MCCN, said: "Within the schools there appeared to be a culture of peer pressure for children to be tanned, extending to bullying in some cases for those children with very pale skin.
"There was a very good awareness of the dangers of sun exposure and the risk of skin cancer but not about the dangers of sunbeds.
"Teachers now have more information to pass on to their pupils about the health risks."
Dr Paula Grey, director of public health for Liverpool, said: "These figures are alarming and prove the obsession some teenagers have with looking tanned when it is far healthier to be pale and interesting.
"There is also a responsibility of the owners of sunbed shops to protect young people from the obvious risks. We are working closely with our colleagues within the NHS to raise awareness about the dangers."
The research also showed that teenagers were rarely asked for their age before using sunbeds and those that were forged letters or faked phone calls to get on them.
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