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Cheap package holidays “leave skin cancer legacyâ€
Monday, 01 Apr, 2010
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Cheap package holidays in the 1970s have left a generation exposed to deadly skin cancer, a leading charity claims.
People in aged their 60s and 70s are more five times more likely to be diagnosed with malignant melanoma than their parents would have been 30 years ago, according to Cancer Research UK statistics.
Of all ages, this generation has seen the biggest increase in incidence rates of melanoma, rising from seven cases per 100,000 people in the mid 1970s to 36 cases per 100,000 today.
The rise shows the impact that a shift in tanning behaviour has had on a whole generation of men and women who would have been in their 20s and 30s during the dawn of cheap package holidays in the 1970s – when sunburn before suntan was a common ritual – and sunbeds arrived in the UK, the chairty claims.
For men in their 60s and 70s, the rates of melanoma have risen most dramatically – they are now over seven times more likely to be diagnosed with the disease than in the 1970s.
The rise in incidence rates is expected to continue, Cancer Research warned as it launched its 2010 SunSmart campaign.
By 2024 rates in people aged 60-79 are predicted to increase by a third from where they are today.
For men and women of all ages melanoma incidence rates have quadrupled since the 1970s.
There has also been a large increase in the overall death rates. Over a similar period they have more than doubled from 1.2 per 100,000 in 1971 to 2.6 per 100,000 in the UK in 2007.
If melanoma death rates had stayed the same as they were in 1973, around 19,000 fewer people would have died from melanoma, according to charity estimates.
Caroline Cerny, SunSmart manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “A change in the culture of tanning including the explosion of cheap package holidays and the introduction of sunbeds in the seventies means we’re now seeing alarming rates of melanoma for an entire age group.
“The battle against melanoma is far from won. Today the problem threatens to get worse as teenagers continue to crave a tan on the beach and top it up cheaply on sunbeds.
“Already skin cancer is predicted to become the fourth most common cancer for men and for women in the UK by 2024. We must continue to try and stop this pattern of behaviour or melanoma rates in future generations will hit an all time high.
“Melanoma is largely preventable. Burning is not only painful and unsightly; it’s a clear sign that UV rays from the sun have damaged the DNA in your skin cells. This significantly increases the chance of developing skin cancer and makes skin look older.
“People with fair skin, freckles and lots of moles should take extra care in the sun. But everyone should avoid the temptation to redden or burn in order to get a tan.”
by Phil Davies
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