LONDON — A cross-party group of members of parliament has called on the government to introduce a ban on advertising for commercial sunbed services, arguing that unrestricted marketing of ultraviolet tanning equipment contributes to rising rates of skin cancer and targets young people who may be unaware of the long-term health risks. The call, published in a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Skin Cancer Prevention, represents the most significant legislative push to restrict the sunbed industry in more than a decade.
The report, released Tuesday, cites data from the National Cancer Registry showing that melanoma — the most dangerous form of skin cancer — has increased by 38 percent over the past fifteen years in England and Wales, making it one of the fastest-growing cancer diagnoses among adults under 45. The MPs noted that the United Kingdom banned under-18s from using commercial sunbeds in 2011, but stopped short at the time of imposing restrictions on how those businesses market their services. The parliamentary group is now arguing that the regulatory gap has allowed the industry to advertise aggressively on social media platforms, where younger adults disproportionately represent the audience, effectively cultivating a future customer base among the demographic most vulnerable to UV-induced skin damage.
Group chair Rosalind Pemberton, a Labour MP whose constituency includes three commercial tanning salons, said evidence gathered during the inquiry pointed clearly to a disconnect between consumer awareness and actual risk. “Every week in this country someone dies of a melanoma that was preventable,” Pemberton said at a press conference in Portcullis House. “We are not talking about banning sunbeds outright. We are talking about stopping businesses from using Instagram and outdoor advertising to make UV radiation look glamorous.” The report also calls for mandatory health warning labels on all promotional materials that do reference sunbed services, analogous to warnings required on tobacco packaging, and recommends that the Advertising Standards Authority be given explicit powers to sanction violations without waiting for a formal complaint.
Cancer charities broadly welcomed the recommendations. The Melanoma Foundation of Great Britain said the evidence base linking artificial UV exposure to skin cancer is as robust as the evidence linking smoking to lung cancer, and argued that the advertising environment had not caught up with the scientific consensus. Chief executive Dr. Fiona Lester said the foundation had long advocated for extending the same restrictions applied to tobacco and gambling advertising to the sunbed sector. “These are products that have no safe level of use when it comes to cancer risk,” she said. “The logic for restricting their promotion is identical.” Dermatologists attending a briefing on the report said UV exposure from artificial sources is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the same category as tobacco smoke.
The sunbed industry and its trade association, the Indoor Tanning Association of Great Britain, disputed the framing. A statement from the association said responsible operators already comply with existing regulations and voluntarily include health advisories in their marketing, and argued that blanket advertising restrictions would unfairly penalize compliant businesses while doing little to address unregulated home sunbed use, which the association said accounts for a growing share of UV tanning sessions. The association also questioned whether sunbed advertising materially drives consumer uptake, citing survey data suggesting that most customers first try commercial tanning through peer recommendation rather than advertising. The trade group called for an evidence review conducted jointly with dermatologists and advertising regulators before any restrictions are implemented.
Ministers have not committed to legislating but indicated the government is receptive to the report’s evidence base. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said officials would carefully consider the recommendations alongside the findings of a wider skin cancer prevention strategy currently being developed by NHS England and the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities. That strategy, due for publication in the autumn, is expected to set updated targets for melanoma diagnosis and survival rates as well as primary prevention recommendations covering both natural and artificial UV exposure. Campaigners said they would push for a legislative amendment to the Online Advertising Regulation Bill, currently in its committee stage, as a vehicle for introducing the restrictions if the government declines to act through standalone legislation, adding that the amendment had secured provisional support from more than 80 MPs across four parties.