WIDELY publicised cancer risks and strict operating laws have seen tanning beds almost phased out of Tasmania.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And in 18 months, they will be outlawed completely.
Health Minister Michelle O'Byrne said Tasmania would join New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia in banning solariums from commercial use by December 2014.
The move comes four years after the government slapped heavy restrictions on solarium owners, including bans for customers aged under 18, bans for people with very fair skin, and mandatory training for all operators.
Ms O'Byrne said the regulations, which were introduced in August 2009, had seen the number of solariums in the state reduce from 150 to nine in 2013.
"There is compelling evidence that people who use artificial indoor tanning devices increase their risk of skin cancer," Ms O'Byrne said.
"As a result, commercial solaria devices will be banned in Tasmania by December 2014.
"We recommend people use the more popular option of spray- tanning," she said.
Cancer Council of Tasmania chief executive Penny Egan said she was satisfied the government had followed the lead of its NSW, South Australian and Victorian counterparts.
"There is no safe level of solaria use, they are dangerous and emit levels of UV radiation up to three times as strong as the midday summer sun," Ms Egan said.
The NSW government was the first in Australia, and only the second jurisdiction in the world, to ban solariums.
Last week the state announced it would offer a buy-back of $1000 for each tanning bed to prevent businesses moving them onto the black market once the ban starts.
Transformation on Trevallyn salon owner Jamie Burns said solariums were common practice when she entered the industry 10 years ago.
"All of my friends used to get a solarium tan - I even did it a couple of times myself," Ms Burns said.
"But now you see the older generation with melanomas and skin cancer and you realise it is just not worth it."
Ms Burns said spray-on tans had replaced the need for solariums.
But she said she still received regular inquiries from people looking for a sun bed.
"I think there are a few older people who missed the information that this generation is getting," Ms Burns said.
Youngtown Health and Fitness owner Graeme George said a growing awareness of skin cancers was the reason he cut the solarium service from his business five months ago.
About a month after he shut down his tanning beds, Mr George's wife lost her battle to cancer of the gall bladder.
"Her death had no relation to tanning beds or UV exposure - but it justified my decision," he said.
"Anyone who objects to getting rid of solariums needs to go for a walk through ward 5D at the hospital."
Aquarius Solarium Launceston - one of the few remaining tanning salons in Tasmania - was contacted for this article but did not wish to comment.