Australia leads the world as the country with the highest rate of skin cancer, about 140,000 new cases of non-melanomic skin cancer occur every year. Melanoma, which is the most dangerous form, causes 800 deaths
each year. The rate has doubled over the last 40 years and the incidence of skin cancer has almost doubled in the last 10 years.
The victims are getting younger each year, according to the Australian Journal of Public Health, from 40% to 70% of teenagers have permanent skin damage to some degree
We can recognize three types of skin cancer. (Sun spots, the most common of all skin diseases in Australia, are not cancer but may be proceeding real cancer).
Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC)
This is the least dangerous form. It rarely spreads to other parts of the body and is seldom fatal.
Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) This type is also common and seldom fatal. However, it has to be treated as soon as possible, because it has a greater risk of spreading.
Malignant Melanoma. (MM)
This is the most rare kind of skin cancer, but the most dangerous. It behaves like an internal cancer and will spread to other parts of the body and has to be treated early.
In the begin stage it looks like a mole, unusual freckle or a birth mark. Warning signs are: changes in colour, texture, seize or shape. It can bleed or become sore.
The current skin cancer rates has reached epidemic proportions and is caused by ultraviolet radiation, which is more intense in areas where there is a hole in the ozone layer. As the hole gets larger and presumably the rest of the layer gets thinner, more UV rays reach the Earth’s surface. Including the very dangerous UVC radiation. As a result, our skin cop an extra severe battering when we are outdoors.
We would expect skin cancer rates to be higher in Nth Queensland, but yet the mortality rates from Melanoma are higher in Tasmania and Brisbane. However, as the hole in the ozone layer sometimes reaches the Australian mainland and ozone thinning as far north as Brisbane, it is impossible to determine what is the greater factor: the ozone layer or r the tropical sun.
Surprisingly, there is a higher number of people with melanoma among those who work indoors all year long compared to those who work outdoors all year.
This removes any doubt that other factors play a part in it as the incidence of melanoma is increasing on parts of the body least exposed to sunlight.
We can conclude that just over half of the present cases of melanoma can be explained as caused by the sun. Conventional wisdom can’t explain the remainder.
There is strong evidence that melanoma ( skin cancer in general) is yet another ‘degenerative disease’. According to Professor Laura and John Aston in ‘Hidden Hazards’, Bantam Books, 1991.
They say that sunlight is therapeutic and may help to prevent many diseases, including melanoma. Regular daily exposure to sunlight is an essential preventive measure, with the emphasis on ‘regular’.
This explains why indoor workers, who go out in the sun only occasionally, will not have developed the protective mechanisms, including pigmentation. But there are still other factors then just the sun.
Environmental factors. The research of Ronald Laura and John Aston in their report from 40 years ago, ‘Hidden Hazards’ 100 substances had already been recognized as being photosensitising agents.
These agents include: * Many commonly used drugs, like some broad-spectrum antibiotics, tranquillisers, high blood pressure drugs and drugs for hypoglycaemia. * Some artificial sweeteners, including cyclamates * Deficiency of vitamin B6 – refining removes much of the B6 from grains, with white bread containing one-fifth as much as wholemeal. * Synthetic riboflavin (vitamin B2), which is used extensively to fortify cereals – it appears that natural riboflavin does not sensitise the skin. * Ethyl alcohol, which is used in beverages. * Some synthetic chemicals, including solublelisers, * Some fungicides and insecticides.
The paradox of skin cancer now seems to be resolved. Regardless the hole in the ozone layer, the appearance of artificial chemicals in recent years that sensitise the skin to light exactly explains the explosion in skin cancer incidence.
We don’t need to be in the tropics to be at risk. By using these chemicals, we increase our accessibility wherever we are.
Hormonal factors. “The effect of light on the regulation of our hormonal system appears to have the greatest potential for explaining the melanoma enigma,” say Professor Laura and John Ashton.
The existence of oestrogen receptors in melanoma cells may explain why oral contraceptives may increase the risk of melanoma, underscoring the important role of female sex hormones.
Also, the ovulatory cycle is regulated by light, both light entering the eyes,
which influences the pinal gland and light falling on the skin.
Artificial light, which is inadequate and incomplete compared to natural light, tends to hinder these light dependent mechanisms, which lead ultimately
to the production in the skin of the protective pigment: melanin.
Another unexpected effect of deprivation of natural light has been found in UV radiation, to increase the cholesterol content of the skin. Both light entering the eyes and light falling on the skin regulate blood cholesterol levels. The higher cholesterol content provide greater protection against the effects of the radiation, with less risk of tumor formation,
Research has also raised the possibility that unnatural fat, like polyunsaturated margarine, affects the fat composition of the skin, disturbing the balance of the above mentioned mechanisms, thereby explaining another factor that can cause melanoma.
There is strong evidence that vitamin D stimulates the entire hormone system to protect against melanoma and other cancers. It is important to know that vitamin D is made in the body, both when sunlight falls on the skin and when it enters the eyes to regulate pineal function,
An Australian study revealed that working under fluorescent light doubles the risk of melanoma. Contrary to this, when sunlight strikes the skin, the UVB component in particular stimulates melanin production, which gives remarkable resistance against the damaging effect of ultraviolet radiation.
It has been proposed that very moderate exposure to sunlight every day during late winter and spring might provide enough protective melanin to withstand the intense UV radiation during summer.