WA joins national solarium ban SUN DAMAGE: The WA Government is set to ban sunbeds. PIC: Peter Smith Source: The Courier-Mail WESTERN Australia is set to follow the rest of the nation and ban commercial sunbeds within three months. After the Queensland government announced a total ban on commercial sunbeds over the weekend, that left WA as the only state that had not outlawed commercial solariums. The Cancer Council said that could possibly create a 'solarium tourism' industry out west. But the state's health minister Dr Kim Hames ruled out that possibility, saying he was formulating WA's own policy to ban tanning beds. "I have to take it to cabinet, but if it happens it will happen in the next three months," Dr Hames told Fairfax radio. There is no doubt about the increased risk of cancer - so I think the chances are (a ban in WA) won't be far away. Research shows sunbed users have a 20 per cent higher risk of developing skin cancer, but this jumps to 59 per cent if a sunbed is used before the age of 35, according to the Cancer Council. Yesterday Queensland health minister Lawrence Springborg announced a ban on UV tanning beds will be in place by December 31 next year. Similar measures have been made in NSW, Victoria, SA, Tasmania and the ACT to regulate or ban sunbed use. Queensland's 44 solarium operators will be paid $1000 in compensation for each tanning bed, a total cost of $160,000. And Dr Hames, who used to work in a skin clinic removing melanomas, said WA could frame a similar policy. "That is the sort of example we will consider," Dr Hames said.