Women warned over ‘injecting’ tans

Young women are putting their health at risk by using illegal tanning injections purchased on the internet, a Traveller organisation has warned.

Pauline O’Grady-Noonan of the Traveller Visibility Group (TVG) said girls as young as 16 are buying tanning kits, which contain Melanotan, an unauthorised medication, and are self-injecting at home.

“The concern is these products are unregulated,” said Ms O’Grady-Noonan. “Nobody knows what the side-effects of these injections are.”

“Some of the kits come with instructions and more do not… it’s a real concern for us. We’re also worried that girls could be sharing needles.”

The organisation is holding a “tanning party” information evening at its offices on Lower John St tomorrow to highlight the potential dangers of using tanning injections and to encourage young woman to opt for spray or other types of false tans.

Ms O’Grady-Noonan, who works on the drugs and alcohol project, said they had received reports of sore, sensitive skin, slight overall body swelling and a green tinge of the skin on the forehead after using the injections. But she said some users do not appear to have any visible reaction.

The organisation is also aware of a case, two months ago, where a girl who presented at hospital with severe abdominal pain, told doctors she had been using tanning injections.

“Many young people are afraid of needles but for the sake of a tan they will go through this,” said Ms O’Grady-Noonan. “And it’s not just Travellers who are using these injections — it’s across the board.”

Tanning injections hit the headlines in the UK two weeks ago after it emerged that a young woman, who collapsed in a tanning salon and died, had used banned tanning injections weeks earlier.

It is believed 26-year-old Jenna Vickers from Bolton, Greater Manchester, had purchased a kit containing melanotan on the internet.

An inquest will be held to determine the cause of her death.

Melanotan is marketed through the internet as a drug that purports to assist tanning. It is not authorised in Ireland and it is illegal to sell it or to import it.

In 2009, the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) issued a precautionary safety alert about Melanotan and advised those using it to cease doing so immediately and to consult with a pharmacist or doctor.

The IMB also expressed concern that the product carried a risk of infection following tests which found the presence of microbial contamination in the product.

* www.tvgcork.ie