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Undercover report shows sunbed operators flouting safety regulations

Author
NZN,
Publish Date
Wed, 7 Feb 2018, 1:07PM
Consumer New Zealand is renewing calls for sunbeds to be banned in New Zealand. (Photo \ File)
Consumer New Zealand is renewing calls for sunbeds to be banned in New Zealand. (Photo \ File)

Undercover report shows sunbed operators flouting safety regulations

Author
NZN,
Publish Date
Wed, 7 Feb 2018, 1:07PM

Sunbed operators in New Zealand are still not up to scratch and many are putting their customers at risk, says Consumer NZ.

The consumer lobby group conducted a "disappointing" mystery shop of 40 sunbed operators and, following a similar exercise three years ago, has repeated its call for them to be banned.

"We found little improvement in overall compliance since our 2015 survey - 45 per cent of operators failed to implement basic checks," said chief executive Sue Chetwin.

Two operators let an underage shopper have a sunbed session, while six let a fair-skinned person use a sunbed. Eight didn't do a formal skin assessmen and two Christchurch operators didn't provide eye protection.

"Using a sunbed is a health risk regardless of age or skin type but people under 18 or with fair skin are at greater risk of suffering lasting and serious damage," Ms Chetwin said.

"We've been mystery shopping sunbeds for more than a decade and the results have been consistently disappointing."

Sunbeds are already banned in most Australian states and Brazil - and Ms Chetwin said that with New Zealand's high rate of skin cancer, it's time sunbeds were banned here.

The World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer says using a tanning device before the age of 30 increases the risk of melanoma by 75 per cent.

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