   Sunscreen causes skin cancer?
LinkySo I've always been involved in this debate.  To me it marks the stupidity of modern western medicine.  The facts are so blatantly obvious to me I wonder how this has continued for so long.Skin cancer has been relatively uncommon for thousands of years of human existence.  Man invents sun screen.  Skin cancer becomes an epidemic.  Black people in america who use sun screen get skin cancer all the time. Black people in africa who spend all day in the sun and use no sun screen never get skin cancer.Could it be possible that we're causing skin cancer?  Nooooooooo that's unthinkable!  We need MORE sunscreen!Nevermind the fact that your body has a really good method of protecting you against UV rays, but it entails going out into the sun a little every day instead of no sun for months and then laying out for 8 hours and burning.Am I the only one who thinks that melanin > PABA?   
  Another thing is that exposure to the sun is not as bad as people think it is and by wearing sunscreen we are depriving our bodies from the vital minerals from the sun. My dermatologist prescribed me 15 minutes in the sun without any protection in order to improve some problems I had on my skin. He said that people who always put on loads of sunscreen and never expose their unprotected skin to the sun are actually harming themselves more than causing any good.   ;That is me, when I forgot to wear sunscreen 3 hours while out in the sun.Now people tell me it's a loose, loose situation?Cancer vs. 3rd degree burn... Hmm... Any sugestions?   ;Quote:Original post by CowardAny sugestions?Stay inside!   ;Quote:Original post by CowardDude, how can you wear a shirt like that in that kind of heat?;Quote:Original post by ChurchSkizLinkySo I've always been involved in this debate.  To me it marks the stupidity of modern western medicine.  The facts are so blatantly obvious to me I wonder how this has continued for so long.Skin cancer has been relatively uncommon for thousands of years of human existence.  Man invents sun screen.  Skin cancer becomes an epidemic.  Black people in america who use sun screen get skin cancer all the time. Black people in africa who spend all day in the sun and use no sun screen never get skin cancer.Could it be possible that we're causing skin cancer?  Nooooooooo that's unthinkable!  We need MORE sunscreen!Your last few statements seem somewhat odd--sunscreen doesn't cause cancer, it provides a false sense of security.   ;Quote:Original post by SalsaDude, how can you wear a shirt like that in that kind of heat?It's from a skitrip in Italy. It was actualy quite nice in that temperature, absorbs the sweat and also lets the breeze get through.   ;Quote:Original post by bytecoderYour last few statements seem somewhat odd--sunscreen doesn't cause cancer, it provides a false sense of security. Did you even read the article or just the headline?Indeed, that article doesn't say that sunscreen causes skin cancer. It says that sunscreen doesn't protect from cancer-causing radiation, but people spend more time in the sun than is wise because they've been lulled into a false sense of security:Quote:Sunscreens generally do a good job filtering out the ultraviolet rays that cause sunburn - UVB rays. But with sunburn protection, many people get a false sense of security that keeps them under the harsh sun much longer. That adds to the risk of eventual skin cancer - both deadly melanoma and the more common and less-threatening basal and squamous cell cancers.Also, note that a doctor quoted in the article says that sunscreen protects against cancer:Quote:"Sunscreens do protect against skin cancer," said Dr. Babar Rao, a dermatologist at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. "We definitely still need sunscreen, even on a cloudy day."Furthermore, the article also notes that the directions provided on bottles of sunscreen tend to suck, leading people to use sunscreen sub-optimally:Quote:Many sunscreens say little about when to reapply - doctors say at least every two hours and after swimming or sweating. Nor do they say much about how much to use, roughly two tablespoons for an adult."Most people who use an SPF 15 get the protection equivalent to an SPF 5 because they put it on" too thinly, said Dr. Martin A. Weinstock, chairman of theAmerican Cancer Society's skin cancer advisory group and a Brown University professor....Most sunscreens work by reacting chemically with the skin, so they don't start absorbing damaging rays right away and must be applied a half-hour before going outside, something many labels fail to note.Finally: Though I try to avoid clichés like the plague, I'm forced to say that correlation does not imply causation. I'd also like to know how ChurchSkiz knows that skin cancer was relatively uncommon for thousands of years. What period of relatively cancer-free time is he describing?   ;Quote:Original post by ChurchSkizLinkySo I've always been involved in this debate.  To me it marks the stupidity of modern western medicine.  The facts are so blatantly obvious to me I wonder how this has continued for so long.Skin cancer has been relatively uncommon for thousands of years of human existence.  Man invents sun screen.  Skin cancer becomes an epidemic.  Black people in america who use sun screen get skin cancer all the time. Black people in africa who spend all day in the sun and use no sun screen never get skin cancer.Could it be possible that we're causing skin cancer?  Nooooooooo that's unthinkable!  We need MORE sunscreen!Nevermind the fact that your body has a really good method of protecting you against UV rays, but it entails going out into the sun a little every day instead of no sun for months and then laying out for 8 hours and burning.Am I the only one who thinks that melanin > PABA?For the life of me, I'm trying to figure out how you turned "Sunscreen may not help prevent skin cancer" into "Suncreen causes skin cancer!!!"....   ;Quote:Original post by ChurchSkizSkin cancer has been relatively uncommon for thousands of years of human existence.  Man invents sun screen.  Skin cancer becomes an epidemic.  Black people in america who use sun screen get skin cancer all the time. Black people in africa who spend all day in the sun and use no sun screen never get skin cancer.1 shorter life spans2 ozone depletion>