A STIRLING-BASED tanning salon chain has been censured after it was found to have misled its customers about the link between the use of sunbeds and skin cancer.

A"fact and fiction" page on the website of Indigo Sun, which has 50 branches throughout the UK, said a British study had found no link between tanning sessions and an increased risk of skin cancer.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint from Sunbedban UK, which raises awareness about skin cancer, and has ordered that the statement does not appear again in the same form.

However, the firm has launched an appeal, saying that it had accurately reported the findings of an academic study and only intended to make its customers aware that there was a debate over the dangers of sunbeds.

The statement on the website said: "It is a widely-held belief that the use of sunbeds increases the risk of developing skin cancer. But now a large-scale study carried out by the University of Leeds in the UK is showing how the opposite is in fact true ... The study showed no evidence of a link between sunbed use and an elevated risk of skin cancer."

Sunbedban UK complained that Indigo Sun had used the study out of context, and the ad misleadingly suggested that there was no link between sunbed use and the risk of developing skin cancer.

The ASA said that the Leeds report, and other studies provided by Indigo Sun, all focused specifically on melanoma but not other types of skin cancer. It noted that malignant melanoma was the least common of the three main types of skin cancer, and considered that the studies did not relate to the claims made in the ad.

The watchdog also understood that various UK organisations such as the NHS and Cancer Research UK advised that UV rays emitted from sunbeds increased the risk of developing skin cancer, both malignant melanoma and non-melanoma, concluding that the claims in the ad had not been substantiated and were misleading.

Frank Taylor, managing director of Indigo Sun, said that the information about the study remained on the website, although he has added a caveat stating that other investigations had led to alternative findings and that official advice contradicted the Leeds research.

He added: "Leeds University did this big study, involving 1,000 people, and found no link. I have an appeal in on the basis that it's factual information, published in a scientific journal.

"There is other published research that comes to the same conclusion, while others say they have discovered a connection. I feel I am more than entitled to point out this research and say let's have a look at it. There's a huge debate over UV exposure, sunbeds, sunlight, Vitamin D and health implications."