Cancer tsar backs sunbed ban
The country’s cancer tsar today backed Health Minister Mary Harney’s call for a blanket ban on sunbeds.
National Director of Cancer Control Professor Tom Keane said tough new laws and education were needed to tackle the nation’s love of tanning shops.
At the Livestrong cancer summit in Dublin Ms Harney revealed she has asked health officials to explore the possibility of completely outlawing the industry.
The influential Prof Keane has now thrown his weight behind the radical move.
“It is a lifestyle issue. Like many other behaviours, Government can only play a part through legislation,” he said.
“A big part of this is around education – educating parents and educating the public that lying under a sun-tan machine and potentially getting excessive exposure is simply not healthy.”
The professor said there is clear evidence that sunbeds could cause skin cancer, noting a recent research paper which classified them as a category one carcinogen.
“If that was a drug or a substance that was in food, there would be a massive clamour out there for it to be banned,” he said.
Prof Keane backed the minister’s call at the three-day global cancer summit organised by cyclist Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong foundation.
He also highlighted the potential for using social networking websites to help raise awareness of the dangers of tanning, among other cancer-related issues.
“This may be particularly important I think in getting messages out around prevention, around tobacco control, around managing risk factors for cancer development, around sun exposure,” he said.
“It is obviously an opportunity that needs to be exploited.”
Prof Keane is set to return to Canada when his two-year post as the country’s top cancer expert comes to an end later this year.
His tenure has not been without controversy, however, as concerned patients and cancer sufferers and survivors have fought plans to set up eight centres of excellence.
Prof Keane has driven this treatment policy claiming it will ensure the best care units even though patients and their relatives would be travelling up to several hundred miles.
However, the professor, who is on secondment from the University of British Columbia in Canada, said he would consider staying on in the Irish role.
“I’ve enjoyed my job here and we’ve made great progress. I have a passionate desire to see the cancer control programme reach its completion,” he said.
“Even if I’m not able to remain here I hope that the progress that’s been made would allow us to recruit somebody on a permanent basis to take on this position and carry on the work.”
Prof Keane acknowledged that whether he stayed in the position or not, more work needed to be done in centralising cancer surgery, introducing chemotherapy drugs and expanding community schemes.
“This is not something that you do for three years and it’s done and you finish,” he said.
“It’s a continuous process and there will continue to be challenges, but I’m satisfied that much of the agenda that was laid out for me by Government will have been accomplished by the end of this year.”
