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Stop telling people to avoid sun - say cancer
experts
01 Feb 2004

A reversal of official advice on the
dangers of the sun was called for yesterday in what could lead
to one of the biggest revisions of a health warning in
decades.

The head of Britain's drive to cut soaring
skin cancer rates said the advice to restrict sunbathing is
'draconian and unnecessary' and should be lifted.

For
at least a decade, doctors have warned sunbathers that 'there
is no such thing as a healthy tan'. Now, Dr Neil Walker,
chairman of the UK Skin Cancer Prevention Working Party, an
umbrella group of more than a dozen professional
organisations, says the warning is counter-productive.

'The phrase 'no such thing as a healthy tan' is one
way of getting the message across that sun damage can lead to
the development of potentially fatal skin cancers. I think we
need to look at this again. I think telling people to avoid
the sun entirely is draconian and unnecessary.'

Dr
Walker, consultant dermatologist at the Churchill Hospital,
Oxford (UK), said millions of people went on holiday every
year with the aim of getting a tan and telling them to stay
out of the sun invited ridicule.

'There are a lot of
people [on the working party] who have this almost religious
conviction about the dangers of the sun. My view has been that
we have got to try to look at things practically. But the
zealots rule at the moment.'

He added: 'There may be
an argument that there is no such thing as a safe tan but it
is not an argument that works. We have to find a way of
putting the message across about what is the most damaging
behaviour, which is why I tell my patients not to bake or
burn.'

About 50,000 people a year in Britain develop
skin cancers, most of which involve minor lesions which are
easily removed. In 2000, there were 7,000 cases of melanoma,
the most serious form of skin cancer, up 24 per cent in five
years.

The rise in melanoma, one of the
fastest-growing cancers, is linked with the growing number of
Britons holidaying abroad and some evidence suggests that it
is sun exposure in childhood that is the main risk.

But some experts say the benefits of the sun have been
underplayed. Sitting in the sun is enjoyable and relaxing,
makes people feel better and stimulates production of vitamin
D, which may protect against a range of diseases.

Professor George Davey Smith and colleagues at the
University of Bristol (UK) said in a paper in the British
Medical Journal in 1999: 'For many people the small absolute
increase in risk of melanoma could easily be outweighed by the
effect of reduced sunlight on mood.'

Sara Hiom, of
Cancer Research UK, defended the warning that there is no safe
tan. 'The reasoning behind that comment is that a tan is a
sign of DNA damage which can lead to skin cancer later in
life. Of course having a tiny bit of golden colour is safer
than burning in the sun. But we have to come out with these
rather strident comments to get the message across. We have to
be rather strict.'
Source: The independent Newspaper,
UK
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health/story.jsp?story=486348

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