Dragon's ban

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Sept 14, 2009

A HEALTH club chain has raised the age limit to use its sunbeds to 18. Dragons' Den star Duncan Bannatyne announced that he has changed the age limits on sunbed use at his health club chain after being tackled by BBC1 series Watchdog. The entrepreneur has upped the age limit from 16 to 18 after the consumer programme raised his awareness of a health report about the dangers of sunbed use earlier this year.

An undercover reporter from the show, aged just 15, was able to use the facilities at two of his gyms as part of an investigation. Bannatyne said he allowed his children to use tanning beds and had done so himself. He said: "The World Health Organisation says it is the same risk as red wine, beer and sunshine, natural sunshine, so it's very difficult to establish whether or not it does cause cancer." But Bannatyne said his chain had now overhauled its policy after the programme team brought his attention to a recent report by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment.