Backyard tanning businesses could emerge in SA after solarium ban begins on January 1
COMMERCIAL tanning beds will be banned from January 1, prompting fears of backyard operations. But not everyone’s happy about the ban.
The commercial use of solarium beds is banned from January 1. The beds have had a significant effect on the lives of many young women. Here are three different viewpoints on the ban.
THE HOME USER
JADE Nannini can continue to stay sunkissed year-round with her very own backyard solarium.
While the State Government has made it illegal for any person to provide a commercial tanning service from January 1, homeowners can still use them in their own homes once the ban comes into effect.
Ms Nannini is trying to sell tanning beds on the online auction site Gumtree after her solarium business, Bronze Bodies Adelaide, was forced to shut its doors on Friday. “Our salon got shut down because we’re only solariums,” she said.
“Now I’m sitting here jobless, my poor mum is jobless — we’ve got absolutely no money now.
“We brought in beauty in the last year but it didn’t make us any money; our money was in solariums.”
Ms Nannini, who uses the tanning beds herself, owned five solarium beds and has already sold two.
“I probably use it (the solarium bed) one or two times a week,” she said.
“Half the time it isn’t even about the tan — it (sun exposure) gets rid of different skin conditions and it helps people with depression and anxiety.”
Ms Nannini said she believed the new laws could cause more harm than good.
“People will try to be able to use solariums whenever they want for however long they want and it could damage their skin more,” she said.
“We had about 500 customers and they were devastated, because at the end of the day it’s (an issue of) freedom of choice.”
THE OPERATOR
ADELAIDE tanning bed businesses could be forced to shut and sack employees when the commercial solarium ban comes into force from next year, owners say.
Sunlounge Tanning & Beauty manager Amy Minervini said the business, which currently runs five solariums, would lose up to 70 per cent of its clients as a result of the new laws.
“They (solarium beds) are a very big part of our business but we’ve got beauty and spray tanning as well,” she said.
Ms Minervini said that the business catered for about 500 individual solarium sessions every week. The clientele includes 200 regular users.
“Our customers are really disappointed — they think there should be freedom of choice,” she said.
“All our customers know it’s well regulated when they come in here — we adhere to guidelines set in place by the Environmental Protection Authority.”
Ms Minervini said she believed the ban could lead to the unregulated use of solarium beds in backyards.
“It’s a lot safer to come in here as opposed to doing it at home, where it’s going to be unsafe and unregulated tanning,” she said, “so why not let the professionals do it and make sure it’s done correctly and safely?”
The business could be forced to cut up to three staff in the coming months.
THE SURVIVOR
DONNA Schwartz knows all too well about the dangers of solariums.
The 29-year-old said she just wanted that “sunkissed” look when she decided to buy a 10-session pack at her local solarium about a decade ago.
A few years later, when she was aged 22, a family member noticed a misshapen, suspiciously coloured mole on the back of her left knee.
After several visits to the doctor and a trip to a skin cancer clinic, it was decided the spot should be removed.
“All these surgeons and specialists came in (to the room) and they were looking at my leg,” Ms Schwartz said.
“He (the doctor) said ‘we have to remove it now and send it for testing’.”
The tests showed the spot was a malignant melanoma. Scarily, if Donna had left it two weeks longer, doctors said the cancer would have spread to her bloodstream.
Ms Schwartz has no doubt her close call was a result of her solarium use.
“(It) definitely was, because I don’t really go out in the sun much — I did when I was a kid but my parents were always quite sun smart,” she said.
Ms Schwartz, who supports the ban on commercial solariums, now regularly gets her skin checked and counts herself one of the lucky ones.
“I never considered getting cancer ... I don’t think you realise the real risks until something like that happens,” she said.
“I know everyone says it won’t happen to me, but they don’t believe it until it happens.”
Fears of backyard tanning operators after ban starts
AUTHORITIES fear backyard tanning businesses will pop up across the state when a ban on the commercial use of solarium beds takes effect from January 1.
South Australians have already begun selling and offering to buy solariums for private home use via the online auction site Gumtree.
Some fear an unregulated tanning trade will expose people to overuse and a high risk of developing skin cancer.
From next year, the State Government has made it illegal for any person to provide a commercial tanning service or face fines of up to $10,000, but South Australians can still purchase and use tanning beds at home.
An Environment Protection Authority spokeswoman said it was up to individual business owners to ensure tanning units were removed — or sold — by next year.
“The SA Government does not have a formal disposal or buyback scheme and it will be for the owner to make the necessary tanning unit disposal arrangements,” she said.
In the lead up to the ban, more than a dozen solarium advertisements have emerged online.
A Ridleyton resident offered up to $5000 to buy a new or used solarium bed for home use.
Another person, of Munno Para West, said they “want to use a solarium for two weekly sessions” and is “happy to negotiate price”.
This activity would be illegal once the ban comes into force.
Similar ads have been posted by people from Hallett Cove, Happy Valley and North Adelaide.
While a Findon resident is offering $6 “home salon” solarium sessions.
Cancer Council SA chief executive Professor Brenda Wilson said she was concerned sunbeds were being sold for home use.
“There is no evidence to suggest there will be an increase in private use after the ban and we hope that people are now aware of the serious health risks associated with using these machines,” she said.
“Evidence tells us that using a solarium increases the risk of skin cancer.”
Prof Wilson said solariums omit UV radiation up to three times as much as the midday summer sun, with some up to six times as strong.
“There is a very clear reason why these machines are being banned throughout the country and South Australians should heed that warning,” she said.
Opposition environment spokeswoman Michelle Lensink said the health risks associated with backyard tanning operations were concerning.
“If people don’t know what they’re doing, if they haven’t had any training, it is a huge concern and could potentially lead to people contracting cancer,” she said.
While Ms Lensink supported the ban, she agreed it may “lead to the proliferation of private backyard operators”.
New data released by Cancer Council SA today reveals 83 per cent of South Australians support the upcoming ban on solariums.
Of the 351 people surveyed, 10 per cent said they used a solarium in their lifetime and just one per cent said they used one in the past year.
Prof Wilson said she was pleased with the results.
“It is encouraging to see that so many people reject using solariums and the retiring of commercial sunbeds is another important step forward,” she said.
As South Australia is poised to ban the commercial use of sunbeds next year, bans come into effect in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, ACT and Queensland.
Western Australian has announced they will also ban solariums, but the date is yet to be determined.
There are no commercial solariums currently operating in the Northern Territory.