Re: UV-B ecologic studies

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

I wasn't going to get into this. However, Between 1981 and 1998 I had four basal cell cancers removed from my face.  As my dermatologist, and any dermatologist and plastic surgeon, will tell you, the primary cause of basal cell skin cancers, the most prevalent cancers in the U. S. today (about 50,000 per year), is exposure to the UV in sunlight.  No these are not usually fatal (although a squamous cell cancer, also clearly related to sun exposure, killed our former Congressman, Steve Schmidt) but they are not fun, either.  There is a clear positive association between sun exposure and basal cell cancer, and you don't need fancy epidemiology to find it.  I have become a sunscreen-and-sunhat believer, and I'll just take my chances and forgo the benefits of excessive UV-B exposure.


By the way, UV is a very good example of hormesis:  a little UV is necessary for Vitamin D expression, but a lot gives you skin cancer.


Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com