Salon leads way and turfs sunbed

A Tweed Heads salon will remove one its sunbeds, claiming the red tape and health warnings are mounting.

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A TWEED Heads hair salon plans to remove its tanning beds as years of negative publicity and misuse by clients has destroyed the once lucrative industry.

This week, environment minister Robyn Parker announced the NSW state government would be introducing tough laws banning commercial UV solaria tanning units by 2015 with increased evidence linking them to deadly melanoma.

But The Hair Shack owner Miriam Lacey told My Daily News she had planned to ditch one of her tanning beds before the legislation was even announced, citing a lack of demand and an increase in government regulation.

And she's not that sad to see it go - she agrees the government needs to stop people abusing the equipment.

"Once upon a time you used to have to make an appointment, but now you walk right in, there's never anyone using them," Ms Lacey said.

"There's so much publicity against using them now and so much book work and rules for us to have them, they're not worth me running them.

"If it was used safely there would be no problems, we even have a few people coming on doctors recommendations to treat other skin conditions.

"But it's people that lie in the sun all day and then use a solarium to top up or who manage to go four days a week by going to a number of different salons that make it dangerous.

"I agree with the government, why are people burning themselves more than they have to?"

The environment minister said the International Agency for Research on Cancer placed solaria in the same category of risk to humans as asbestos.

"Sadly, Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world and this ban is long overdue," Ms Parker said.

"The health risks associated with the use of tanning units are becoming increasingly well known, with increasing scientific research confirming a direct link between the use of tanning units and the increased early on-set of melanoma."

The danger of tanning units shot into the limelight after the 2007 death of Melbourne woman Clare Oliver at the age of 26 from a melanoma caused by solarium use.