Re: UV-B ecologic studies

[epirad@mchsi.com]

The intesting thing about Bill Grant is that he is also 

a physicist by training (UC Berkeley), not an 

epidemiologist, much like Dr. Cohen.  

> 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

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