Ban on tanning salons proposed in cancer plan

suchandra · December 5, 2007

230,000 new cancer cases in Great Britain, looks like the material energy makes short work of stubbornness.

UK: Ban on tanning salons proposed in cancer plan

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2221056,00.html

David Batty and agencies

Monday December 3, 2007

Cigarette vending machines and tanning salons could be banned in an attempt to reduce the incidence of cancer in Britain, the government announced today.The proposals come in a new five-year cancer strategy, which says half the 230,000 new cancer cases every year could be avoided by lifestyle changes including eating, drinking and sunbathing less.

The report, published today, also said the UK cancer survival rate was still lagging behind that in the US and most European countries, despite record government spending.

Spending on NHS cancer services has trebled since 2000, but Britain's survival rates are on par with east European countries such as Poland and Slovenia, which spend far less on care.

The cancer reform strategy proposes more restrictions on the sale of cigarettes to further reduce the incidence of lung cancer. Suggested measures include banning cigarette vending machines, reducing cigarette displays in shops and more health warnings on cigarette packaging.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) said a ban on vending machines could help to significantly reduce smoking among teenagers.

Stuart Barber, the BHF head of policy and public affairs, said: "Our estimates suggest that as many as one in six schoolchildren who are regular smokers usually buy their cigarettes from vending machines.

"That equates to over 46,000 11 to 15-year-olds in England and Wales who buy cigarettes from vending machines."

The proposals also include tougher restrictions on tanning salons, particularly on their use by the under-18s, to curb rates of the skin cancer malignant melanoma, which is Britain's fastest rising cancer. Experts are particularly concerned by the safety risks posed by coin-operated tanning booths.

The new plan promises an additional £370m for cancer care by 2010. This will include more than £130m for radiotherapy, which experts say is more beneficial than new cancer drugs. There are fears that shortages of equipment and staff are causing delays in treatment and reducing survival rates.

There will also be around £100m to provide quicker and more accurate digital mammograms by 2010.

The new strategy will significantly expand the breast cancer screening programme to cover around 200,000 more women a year.

In future, all women aged between 47 and 73 will be eligible for breast screening on the NHS. Currently, women aged 50 to 70 are eligible. The age for bowel cancer screening is also being extended from 70 to 75.

Unveiling the strategy today, the prime minister, Gordon Brown, said it would serve as a "road map to a higher standard of care available to all".

He said: "The number of people contracting cancer continues to increase as our population ages, and the consequence of successful treatment is that more people are living after cancer than ever before. And because cancer is no longer the death sentence it was, that serves to increase the importance of care for cancer survivors.

"But this must be combined with greater responsibility from individuals to change aspects of their behaviour, such as smoking, to reduce their own risk."

The Conservatives said the strategy showed the failure of the government's NHS cancer plan, published in 2000, which promised to make Britain's cancer services the best in Europe.

The shadow health minister Mark Simmonds said: "What is saddening is that if the UK achieved European-best levels of cancer survival rates then 95 lives each day could be saved."

However, the health secretary, Alan Johnson, rejected the Tory criticisms. He told the BBC Breakfast programme: "We think over the next five years we can get to world-class. We are not quite there yet.

"It was never going to be a case of moving to world-class in a year or two years or even five years. This is a process where you need to get the new equipment in, you need to get more specialists trained up, you need to introduce preventative measures."

Cancer is the leading cause of premature death in the UK, and one-quarter of all deaths in England are caused by the disease.