Society wants sunbed removed

Ratepayers' money is being spent on protecting people from skin cancer, but the Palmerston North City Council didn't notice there was a sunbed in one of its facilities.

The Manawatu Cancer Society sunsmart co-ordinator Kerry Hocquard brought it to the attention of city councillors yesterday at hearings for the draft annual plan.

She called for the removal of the tanning bed at the Lido Aquatic Centre. There also needed to be more shade protection at outdoor event venues such as The Square, she said.

Deputy Mayor John Hornblow was shocked to hear there was a sunbed at a council-owned facility.

"I think it is an inappropriate apparatus to have in a council facility."

But, unfortunately, there was not a lot the council could do about it, he said.

While the facility is owned by the council, the management of it is contracted out.

"We can't just go in there with a bulldozer and lift it out."

He intends to raise the issue with councillors and council officers and investigate what can be done.

"Research shows it's not a safe piece of equipment, that there's the potential for it to create cancer and that people who use it do not protect themselves in the way they do when they are outside."

Sunbeds have been labelled as "carcinogenic to humans" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, alongside tobacco, asbestos and arsenic.

Research by Niwa found the intensity of radiation in some tanning booths in New Zealand was several times higher than ever occurs in sunlight.

City council parks and properties manager John Brenkley said while he did not like the idea of a sunbed, there's nothing the council could do about it.

"People are obviously using it or else they wouldn't have it there."

Neither of the managers of the Lido were available for comment yesterday but staff said the sunbed was not used often.

- © Fairfax NZ News