‘Dodgy advice’ during sting prompts fresh call for sunbed ban

Consumer NZ is seeing red after a mystery shopper sting and says sunbeds should be banned outright, just as they are in Australia. Photo / Thinkstock

Some sunbed operators are still putting high-risk customers in danger, Consumer NZ says.

The consumer group said it had serious concerns after mystery shoppers found some sunbed operators were letting fair-skinned customers access sunbeds.

“People who use a sunbed have a 20 per cent greater risk of melanoma than people who have never used a sunbed,” said Consumer NZ’s research and test writer Belinda Castles.

The watchdog said seven operators failed to comply with Ministry of Health advice.

Consumer said the voluntary sunbed standard recommended people with type 1 skin, which burned easily or never tanned, should never use a sunbed.

It said health authorities required all sunbed operators to provide consent forms, eye protection, warning notices and skin assessments.

Sunbed operators were also supposed to use a skin assessment questionnaire to determine a person’s skin type, Castles said.

“The questionnaire asks about genetic factors, such as eye, hair and skin colour, reaction to sun exposure, and tanning habits.”

Consumer sent people with type 1 skin to visit sunbed operators across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

“Three of the operators falling foul of the sunbed standard are repeat offenders, having been caught out in Consumer’s 2020 mystery shop too,” the watchdog said.

“In Auckland, six out of eight operators refused our mystery shopper’s sunbed request.”

But the other two in the city did not turn the mystery shopper away, even after her skin assessment.

Consumer said two Wellington operators gave “dodgy advice” about how much time the shopper could spend on a sunbed.

“Although they suggested short sessions, they should have turned the customer away.”

“Yet again, our mystery shop has uncovered many sunbed operators are not protecting New Zealanders. We want to see sunbeds banned,” Castles said.

New Zealand had the highest rate of melanoma deaths in the world, Consumer NZ added.

“Sunbeds have been banned in Australia, which has similarly high rates of skin cancer.”

The consumer group said the New Zealand Dermatological Society Inc, Cancer Society of New Zealand, Melanoma Foundation, and MelNet also wanted sunbeds banned.

In 2014, Auckland banned under-18s from using sunbeds.

In 2015, Labour, New Zealand First, and the Greens called for a complete ban but the Government said a nationwide ban on under-18s using the beds was sufficient.