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 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
diseaes, 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 photo sensitising 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
sensitize the skin.
* Ethyl alcohol, which is used in beverages.
* Some synthetic chemicals, including solubilisers.
* 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 sensitize 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 margarines, 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 remarkeble
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.