The Environment Minister, Robyn Parker, chose World Cancer Day to make her  announcement, saying sun beds were carcinogenic and the International Agency for  Research on  Cancer had placed them in the same category of risk as asbestos.  "Sadly, Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world and this  ban is long overdue,'' she said.

There are about 100 businesses with 254 commercial tanning units registered  in NSW, and about 10 per cent offer UV tanning exclusively. That group would be  offered help through the Department of Trade and Investment's business advisory  services, Ms Parker said.

Jay Allen, a melanoma survivor who led the campaign for the ban, said he was  "over the moon".

"This is for all the people who have lost their life to melanoma, all the  people living with melanoma," he said. "It's going to save many, many lives."

A professor of public health at the University of Sydney, Simon Chapman,  said: "Solaria are cancer incubators and we have known that for a good while''.  He said Mr Allen's campaign was one of the best examples of consumer advocacy he  had seen.

The chief executive of the Cancer Council Australia, Ian Olver, said he hoped  other states would follow. "It starts with one state that is brave enough to do  it and it usually flows on," he said.

He said governments paid for cancers caused by sunbeds so they had a right to  ban them.

A study by  the University of Sydney estimated the ban would prevent about  120 melanomas from developing and save about 10 lives every year.

The Greens have pushed for a ban on sunbeds and Frank Sartor, as environment  minister in the former Labor government, announced a partial ban. But days  before the state election, Labor backed  down on its stance.