Australia Blog: Between a rock and a hard place

September 30, 2003

Between a rock and a hard place

I saw a headline in the paper today stating, "Sunscreen linked to cancer risk". If you took that at face value you'd think that putting on sunscreen will increase the risk of melanoma and you'd wonder what you've got to do to be able to go out into the sun safely these days.

As it turns out, it's more the reliance on sunscreen that is causing problems. Sunscreen prevents the sunburn and blocks UVB rays, but doesn't stop the also harmful UVA rays. So while folks are frollicking about in the sun they are still being damaged by the sun.

The best way to avoid having nasty stuff dug out of you later in life is still to Slip, Slop, Slap.

Posted by Chris on September 30, 2003 11:45 AM Brisbane Time
Category: Oz in the News

Comments

It's wlip, wlop and wlap - oops - I mean slip, slop and slap for me from now on.

Posted by: Mary on October 1, 2003 12:28 AM

There was a US survey done a couple of years ago that showed people who use sunscreen had a higher rate of skin cancer than those that didn't. It sounded amazing till someone pointed out that of those polled the suncreen users were from Florida and the non user from New England. Stats can be misleading. It still proves though that sunscreen use is not a guarantee of skin cancer prevention.

11 & 3 under a tree.

Posted by: Nick on October 2, 2003 12:27 AM