My name is Mark Carter and I am a stage 4 malignant melanoma survivor. Although I have never used a Sunbed I spend my time raising awareness of the causes of malignant melanoma, a disease that is largely preventable and launched a website www.sunbedban.co.uk in February last year.

Skin Cancer rates are increasing faster than any other cancer in the UK, with figures doubling every 10-20 years. More than 11,500 cases of malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of the disease are diagnosed every year in the UK and over 2,500 will die from the disease this year alone.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has moved Ultra-Violet emitting tanning beds to it's highest cancer risk category and labeled them as carcinogenic to humans.

Commercial Sunbeds emit ultraviolet (UV) rays that increase your risk of developing skin cancer both malignant  and non malignant  and recent research has shown that many sunbeds give out greater doses of UV rays than the midday Mediterranean sun.

Cancer Research UK estimate that at least 100 people in the UK die every year from sunbed related Melanoma. We the undersigned believe that a ban on commercial sunbeds would save many lives from this horrible disease and would help curb the alarming rise in Melanoma incidence rates. Skin Cancer drugs are very expensive  and a ban would also help save the NHS from the huge cost burden of skin cancer treatments.     

Even tighter  regulations on sunbed use. although a step in the right direction will not stop them from remaining lethal and will do little to stop them causing unnecessary deaths.  These facts alone should be enough to have sunbeds banned.  A tan is simply not worth dying for.

Brazil has already banned Sunbeds, and Australia has recently commited to a National ban. Every state has now either banned or is planning to outlaw commercial sunbeds due to the country having some of the highest skin cancer rates in the world