mediscope
Issue 3 Sep 2008
featurescope Impact of Climate Change on Skin Cancer Kathryn Howe
C
urrently, the overwhelming popular belief is that tanned skin equates to health, athleticism, success and beauty; qualities that many aspire to. Historically, those who could afford to spend
time indoors, rather than working the fields, developed pale skin; a fair skin type was deemed a positive sign of affluence. Nowadays, tanned skin is considered to be a sign of wealth and prosperity, indicating the ability to partake in holidays to sunnier climates and suggesting a healthier outdoor lifestyle. Public compliance in safe sun behaviour is encouraged by imaginative slogans such as ‘slip slap slop’, ‘sun smart’ and the American Academy of Dermatology ‘ABCs’ (Away, Block, Cover-up, Shade). Furthermore, the effect of various celebrity endorsements for the beauty of pale skin may be profound in altering the current trends in the popularity of tanning, sun-worshipping behaviour and the fashion of sporting minimal clothing as soon as the sun shines. Such behaviour leads to an increase in the time exposed to ultraviolet radiation and, as the temperature increases, the population is expected to spend more time enjoying the sunshine. Indeed, it has been identified that the probability of sunburn approximately doubles when the temperature is 1927OC in comparison to the maximum temperature of a typically average British Summer; 18OC.1 With five or more episodes of sunburn, a person’s risk of skin cancer also doubles.2
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