Sunshine is warm, relaxing, highly desirable and incredibly dangerous (not to mention ageing. It was not for nothing that Victorian women carried parasols). Melanomas (skin cancer) have increased twenty-fold in Europe and the United States since 1935. Tumours can take decades to develop, so we may only now be seeing damage from past years of careless sun-worshipping. Most are fully curable, but some prove fatal. There is a widespread assumption that any exposure to the sun is okay, as long as you have a slathering of cream on your limbs and face. Well, it's not really so. Creams are useful, but not fool-proofs. Research reported earlier this year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science was deeply worrying. ``We have found no relationship between sunscreen use at any age and development of melanoma skin cancer,'' says Marianne Berwick, from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering cancer centre in New York.A second team found that UVA rays were more likely to cause melanomas than the UVBs, which were earlier seen as the enemy. It is important that any cream should block both. And a British scientist, John Knowland, of Oxford University, has explained that a substance called PABA, whose derivatives are use in some sun screens might actually cause damage leading to lesions and tumours.
Says Dr Knowland: ``I will not use sun creams that contain PABA or its derivatives. If you want to avoid PABA and its derivatives then go for sunscreens that specifically say PABA-free.'' But the message that sun creams are not enough has not yet got through.
A poll commissioned by United Kingdom's Cancer Research Campaign, with the stores group Mothercare, found that more than three-quarters of those questioned, though it was alright to sunbathe as long as they protected their skin from sun burn.
Young women still seek a tan because they think it looks fashionable and makes them feel attractive, says the Health Education Authority.Its new campaign targets women of 16 to 24, less than a third of whom even use sun creams. A tan, says Christopher New of the HEA, ``is a sign of damaged skin, and can cause premature ageing.'' The Cancer Research Campaign says protection of factor 15 or more should be always be applied by everyone in the sun.
But the fundamental mistake many visitors from northern latitudes still make is to think that as long as they are creamed-up, they can sit out in the noonday sun when any sensible Mediterranean native would be behind the shutters taking a siesta.
The hours between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. are the most dangerous, and the safe way is to take a lesson from out predecessors. If you are out at midday, cover yourself up with long sleeves and a broad-brimmed hat. Better still, seek the shade or the cool indoors.
Children need even greater protection than adults. Their skins are delicate, they do not notice the difference between sun and shade, they usually refuse to wear hats and they constantly jump in the sea, washing off their sun cream.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
