Clare Oliver remembered as VCOG calls for ban of solaria

Yesterday, Peter Mac and SunSmart joined together to honour the memory of Clare Oliver, who passed away from melanoma on 13 September 2007, aged 26.

Clare visited a solarium about 20 times in her early 20s and believed that these visits contributed to her diagnosis. Clare pioneered the campaign against sunbeds, determined to use her tragic story of skin cancer, and of a life lost far too early, to help others avoid the same fate.

But sadly today, despite Clare’s plight and the extraordinary change she was able to bring about, the problem not only still exists, it is growing.

• A new review of research shows that using a sun bed before age 35 increases the risk of melanoma by 87 per cent (previously 75 per cent).
• An estimated one in six melanomas in young Australians aged 18-29 could be prevented if solaria were shut down.
• It has been estimated that each year in Australia, 281 new melanoma cases, 43 melanoma-related deaths, and 2,572 new cases of squamous cell carcinoma are attributable to solarium use, at a cost to the health system of around $3 million.

Yesterday, Peter Mac’s Professor Michael Henderson, on behalf of 161 cancer specialists and clinicians of the Victorian Co-operative Oncology Group (VCOG), called on the Victorian government to follow the lead of NSW and ban solaria in this state and work towards implementing a ban on a national level.

Jay Allen, melanoma patient, successfully lobbied the NSW Government to bring about a solarium ban. Yesterday, he used a raw and a roast chicken to highlight the impact of solaria on skin.