THE Health Secretary has confirmed that under-18s are to be banned from using sun beds.

In a victory for The Northern Echo’s Sunbed Safety campaign, legislation is to be introduced to bar salons from allowing children to use their facilities.

As reported in The Northern Echo last year, a Private Member’s Bill was launched in Parliament to have the law changed to stop unscrupulous businesses from exposing children to the dangers of the ultraviolet sunlamps.

Now the Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham, has backed the bid.

Mr Burnham said: “The scientific evidence is clear – sunbeds increase your risk of getting skin cancer.

“It is far too easy for young people to use sunbeds and I am determined to take action to protect them.

“I fully support this Bill which will force tanning salons to ban access for people under 18-years-old.”

The Sunbed Safety campaign was launched in 2008 after 15-year-old Darlington girl Katie Turner was hospitalised after spending more than 20 minutes under the lamps at her local salon.

Last November, a Government- commissioned report by Cancer Research UK, found that an alarmingly high number of teenagers regularly used sunbeds.

The report found that six per cent of 11 to 17-year-olds admitted to using sunbeds.

Children in the north were most likely to use them, with as many as 18 per cent in Sunderland saying they had used UV lamps.

The Private Member’s Bill MP, will have its second reading in the House of Commons at the end of the month and could be made law within months.

Katie Turner, now 16, was treated in the casualty ward at Darlington Memorial Hospital for pounding headaches, sickness and severe sunburn after visiting a salon on the way home from school.

She had paid for 12 minutes under the lamps, but returned to the shop for another nine minutes soon after.

Within hours she was in agony, and had to be rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.

Her mother, Elizabeth, last night welcomed the Government’s decision to introduce the ban.

She said: “My daughter was burned red raw – she was in absolute agony and could hardly stand.

“She should never have been allowed to use a sunbed for so long.”