Sports trust Freedom Leisure has become the latest operator to remove all sunbeds from its leisure centres.

The operator, which manages 19 leisure and fitness facilities across Sussex and Kent, previously offered sunbeds at six sites, including Falaise, Bexhill Leisure Pool, Bexhill Leisure Centre, Helenswood, Hailsham and Crowborough.

The decision was made six months after a study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) deemed that sunbeds pose a risk to human health.

Jeff Hart, managing director, said: "The decision to remove the sunbeds from all Freedom Leisure sites in January 2010 was taken after ongoing monitoring of research.

"We feel that removing sunbeds from all centres is in the best interest of our customers. We have full support from all our partners and believe that this is the best move for Freedom Leisure and its customers."

Freedom joins a group of leisure centre operators - which already includes Parkwood Leisure, North Wales council and Wiltshire Council - that have axed sunbeds from their facilities following the IARC study.

IARC, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) agency for research into cancer, reclassified sunbeds as a Group 1 agent and determined them to be "carcinogenic to humans".