The Real Facts about Tanning and Skin Cancer

I came across this one today in my ongoing daily research. I always felt that something was wrong about the skin cancer information that's been shoved in our faces for decades. Now I know I was right and it was really just propaganda.

1. Sunlight exposure does not cause skin cancer. That is a myth promoted by sunscreen manufacturers to scare consumers into buying more sunscreen.

2. Tanning has actually been found to prevent cancer tumors.

3. Sunscreen products contain cancer-causing chemicals and has been found to increase the risk of skin cancer.

4. The best way to avoid skin cancer is to build up a tan and increase your intake of antioxidents by eating more berries and superfoods.


Source (NewsTarget): Tanning found protect against melanoma by releasing tumor suppressor protein

So you find one website that claims to disprove that sunlight causes skin cancer and believe it proves everything? Good luck!! A tan is actually damaged skin whether you like to believe that or not.

Repeated studies - epidemiological studies on populations - carried out in different parts of the world on different populations over several decades have repeatedly shown that exposure to ultra-violet radiation is linked to the development of skin cancers. Sunscreen does not damage your health, excessive sunlight can. Sunscreen works either by a) blocking out ultra-violet rays or b) absorbing them. That said, saying that we will absorb dangerous amounts of chemicals from sunscreen is baloney. If the skin was that permeable we'd be absorbing everything we came in touch with. Why bother to put food in our mouths? We could just smear it over ourselves.

Now sunlight exposure and Vitamin D has been shown to have a protective effect for some tumours but it's a double edged sword, exposure, especially in the early years of life is linked to skin cancers and also other nasties like melanoma of the eye (yep, you can get it in your eye).

Given the number of people who actually die from melanoma each year and the suffering this causes to themselves and their families, believing this stuff is highly foolish. However it's your skin and your life in the end. Eat lots of berries if you wish, but you'll still end up looking like an old leather handbag.




[edit on 13-5-2007 by Crispy_Chicken]

the best way to look at the issue if you're starting from scratch is to compare melanoma incidence of people working indoors and, say surfers, construction workers and other people who generally spent a lot of their time exposed to the sun.

i'd be extremely surprised if the surfer category had a higher rate of cancer. the more you find out about cancer, the less you believe the explanations given by the media.

a tan is not damage to the skin...its the movement of melin
silly
and a tan does protect against UV
so there is so validity to the basic statement.
can you expolate that into the bigger statement it prevents cancer...well yes but its also ovbious that skin cancer is directly related to exposure so the truth is governed by moderation.

Melanomas are one skin cancer that has been linked to sun exposure. Another type with definite causational relationship is that heavy sun exposures lead to actinic keratosis, which is a premalignant skin lesion.

You know the SPF+ rating on sunscreen bottles? And how the higher the number the better proteciton the sunscreen gives? Well a tan has an SPF+ rating of about 2. Of course I am not talking about naturally dark skinned people with higher levels of melanin but the average white person who gets a tan. So a tan gives minimal sun protection.

The incidence of melanoma is indeed curious. Indoor workers whose pattern of exposure is irregular - being on weekends or holidays has a greater risk of developing melanoma than outdoor workers. That doesn't mean outdoor workers/surfers etc can't get melanoma though, and there is another type of skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma which is also dangerous.

[edit on 13-5-2007 by Crispy_Chicken]

Originally posted by Crispy_Chicken
The incidence of melanoma is indeed curious. Indoor workers whose pattern of exposure is irregular - being on weekends or holidays has a greater risk of developing melanoma than outdoor workers. That doesn't mean outdoor workers/surfers etc can't get melanoma though, and there is another type of skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma which is also dangerous.

Since these people get less sun exposure, wouldn't they be more likely to use sunscreen products that contain cancer-causing chemicals and increase their risk for cancer?

Originally posted by annestacey
Since these people get less sun exposure, wouldn't they be more likely to use sunscreen products that contain cancer-causing chemicals and increase their risk for cancer?

I think the clinical trials match people and their sunscreen use. I keep forgetting to use the sunscreen and boy, do I burn! I do keep my granddaughter protected with sunscreen when we go swimming. I'd never risk her getting sunburned!

My current strategy is to swim only during the evenings.

The medical literature is sort of mixed on this. Everyone agrees that melanoma is on the rise, but they're cautious about assigning a blame for it. Part of it is undoubtedly a better diagnosis of what melanoma is and tests that catch it a lot earlier. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...


In any case, it's nasty, nasty stuff and very aggressive!

Medical literature is never going to state the truth. The FDA is never going to state the truth. The only way we can learn the truth about cancer-causing chemicals in the products we use are through online health awareness organizations. And the FDA is gaining the power to shut them down because they don't want us to know the truth.