A BID to ban kids from using sunbeds has been backed by Scotland's most influential health experts.

A BID to ban kids from using sunbeds has been backed by Scotland's most influential health experts.

The British Medical Association, the Royal Environmental Health Institute and the Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health are supporting tighter regulations being proposed by Eastwood MSP Ken Macintosh.

He wants a total ban on under-18s using the beds, a ban on unstaffed salons and a code of practice enforceable by environmental health officers.

In a submission to the Scottish Parliament's Health and Sport Committee, the BMA warned sunbed users were 2.5 times more likely to develop skin cancer.

It said there had been an increase of malignant melanoma of 45.5% in men and 20% in women between 1994 and 2004 and it's estimated there are 100 malignant melanoma deaths each year in the UK.

The BMA said the risks of developing cancer through sunbed use were greatest for the young, with the chances of developing a tumour increasing by up to 20% per decade of sunbed use before the age of 56.

Other effects were premature ageing with wrinkled skin, damage to eyes and the immune system.

Scotland has more than 800 tanning salons and 120 of those are in Glasgow and 19 of them unstaffed.

The BMA wants a national, statutory licensing scheme for the currently unregulated industry.

In backing this, the REHI added a requirement that all sunbed operators should be properly trained.