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Scottish children using cancer-causing sunbeds, study finds

CHILDREN barely in their teens are sneaking onto cancer-causing sunbeds in a bid to look brown, alarming new research from Scotland has shown.

Health campaigners urged the Scottish government to improve education about skin cancer in the wake of shocking findings from the University of Stirling.

The survey of about 2,200 Glasgow 12- and 13-year-olds found that 127 — roughly one in 20 — admitted to using a sunbed in the past year despite a ban on their use for under-18s.

Most teens surveyed did not know that exposure to the sun heightened the risk of skin cancer. Nearly one in five said that they did not usually wear sunscreen, and a similar number reported multiple bouts of intense sunburn.

Social scientist Dr Richard Kyle, who led the study, said urgent action was needed to educate young people about the dangers of the sun and the warning signs of skin cancer.

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