Rise of skin cancers related to increasingly popular outdoor activities & recreational exposure

Kolkata: The rise in the incidence of skin cancers over the past decades is strongly related to increasingly popular outdoor activities and recreational exposure.

Overexposure to sunlight is widely accepted as the underlying cause for harmful effects on the skin, eye and immune system.Experts believe that four out of five cases of skin cancer could be prevented, as UV damage is mostly avoidable.

One in every three cancers diagnosed is a skin cancer. The main factor that predisposes to the development of skin cancer is exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, traditionally from the sun and more recently from artificial tanning sunbeds.

Both solar radiation and sunbeds are classified as carcinogenic to humans by the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is part of the electromagnetic spectrum emitted by the sun. Whereas UVC rays (wavelengths of 100-280 nm) are absorbed by the atmospheric ozone, most radiation in the UVA range (315-400 nm) and about 10  per cent of the UVB rays (280-315 nm) reach the Earth's surface. Both UVA and UVB are of major importance to human health.

Small amounts of UV are essential for the production of vitamin D in people, yet overexposure may result in acute and chronic health effects on the skin, eye and immune system.

The World Health Organization (WHO)  underscores national actions to limit the use of artificial tanning devices (sunbeds) in a bid to reduce the associated health risks, such as melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers.

For more than three decades, the deliberate sunbed exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) for cosmetic purposes has been driving up the incidence of skin cancers and driving down the age of their first appearance, according to a new WHO report "Artificial tanning devices: public health interventions to manage sunbeds."

Sunbed use has been estimated to be responsible for more than 450 000 non-melanoma skin cancer cases and more than 10 000 melanoma cases each year in the United States of America, Europe and Australia combined. The largest portion of users are women, and in particular adolescents and young adults.

"There's no doubt about it: sunbeds are dangerous to our health," says Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. "Countries need to consider whether to ban or restrict their use, and to inform all users about the health risks."(UNI)