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RE: Melanoma cancer/UV info
I am not aware of any studies suggesting that "visible" radiation was likely
an important carcinogen.
There is plenty of information showing that ultraviolet radiation (UVR -
sometimes called ultraviolet "light") is associated with various skin
cancers (including malignant melanoma), accelerated skin aging, cataract and
other eye diseases, and possibly has an adverse effect on a person's ability
to resist infectious diseases.
At the earth's surface, the sun's spectrum includes ultraviolet radiation in
the UVA and UVB regions and, of course, we are exposed unavoidably to this
radiation when outdoors (unless we adopt sun protective behavior
strategies). The sun is the principal source of UV exposure for most people;
I wonder if the original questioner is ascribing the possible health effects
due to UV radiation to visible radiation from this ubiquitous source.
**************************************************************
Eric Cowdrey, M.Sc. (Physics)
Radiation Protection Officer
Department of Medical Physics
CancerCare Manitoba
100 Olivia Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 0V9
CANADA
Tel (204) 787-2166
Fax (204) 775-1684
mailto:ericc@cancercare.mb.ca
Industrial hygiene in Manitoba: http://aiha.cancercare.mb.ca
-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
[mailto:radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu]On Behalf Of Karam, Andrew
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2000 4:14 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Melanoma cancer/UV info
I received the following message from an astronomer I am acquainted with. I
am unaware of any reports of links between visible light and melanoma and/or
genetic damage, but then I'm not a biologist or physician. I'd appreciate
any information anyone might have.
Thanks!
Andy
-----Original Message-----
Andy--Can you help me answer this? I had "heard" for years that
visible radiation was likely an important carcinogen and that maybe that's
part of why sunscreen usage is correlated with time in sun independent of
sunscreens, etc. Then I came across a recent research report, probably
within the past year, that had more hard evidence that this was the case.
Can you supply me with any recent (accessible--not
reports unless they're electronically avalable) summaries of this
situation, or is it still debated, ...
Once I tried multiplying the damage curves vs wavelength for
various kinds and parts of cells (from Jagger's book) by the sun's spectrum
and thought the increase in flux (many orders of magnitude) about made up
for the decreased but still very important responses out to maybe 400nm. I
just did it by eye, but it is something that has always bothered me when we
talk about the importance of high energy photons for the problems that we
are interested in and neglect the visible.
-------------
Andrew Karam, CHP (716) 275-1473 (voice)
Radiation Safety Officer (716) 275-3781 (office)
University of Rochester (716) 256-0365 (fax)
601 Elmwood Ave. Box HPH Rochester, NY 14642
Andrew_Karam@URMC.Rochester.edu
http://Intranet.urmc.rochester.edu/RadiationSafety
The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up
in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.
Robert Frost
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