AUSTRALIA: OFFICE AND INDOOR WORKERS DEVELOP GREATER RISK OF SKIN CANCER BECAUSE OF LACK OF REGULAR EXPOSURE TO THE SUN

Record ID: 862982

  • Title: AUSTRALIA: OFFICE AND INDOOR WORKERS DEVELOP GREATER RISK OF SKIN CANCER BECAUSE OF LACK OF REGULAR EXPOSURE TO THE SUN
  • Date: 1st June 2002
  • Summary: VARIOUS STILL PHOTOS OF MELANOMA (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 16th June 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SYDNEY, SILVERTON AND GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA
  • City:
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Health,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVABJYL717EQOB1CU9WHJXLFMS69
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Office and shop workers run a greater risk of developing potentially fatal melanomas than people who work out of doors, according to a veteran Australian skin cancer researcher.
    And the reason for this is that "gorging" on the sun can have a stronger effect than more regular sun exposure.
    Australians are still learning to live with the sun.
    The image of the bronzed Aussie is slowly giving way to a nation where being sun smart can be a life saver.
    Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world; one in two of the 19 million population will develop cancers during their lifetimes.
    Of most concern is melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer which can prove fatal.
    For twenty years public health education campaigns have urged people to "slip, slop, slap" - slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a hat.
    But cancer experts say it is not only the amount of sun that is the problem, but the pattern of sun exposure.
    Sydney University's Professor Bruce Armstrong says contrary to popular belief melanoma is most commonly found in people who spend the bulk of their lives out of the sun.
    These are people who "gorge" themselves in the sun on weekends or while on vacation.
    "It's not that they are getting no sun exposure because they work indoors. They might be getting quite a lot of sun exposure, but they are getting it in an intermittent pattern - at the weekend or during their holidays," said Armstrong, head of the School of Population Health and Health Services Research, University of Sydney.
    And there is a socio-economic imperative at work also.
    Higher paid workers have more opportunity to have "fun in the sun," says Professor Armstrong, and so are more at risk.
    "Firstly, people of higher socio-economic groups are less likely to be outdoor workers, but they are also more likely to have the resources that give them access to those sun-related recreations. They are the ones that can go to lovely tropical islands, that can afford holidays in the sun.
    The boat and all the paraphernalia that goes with having fun in the sun," said Armstrong.
    But according to Armstrong, there is no such thing as safe sun exposure. Skin cancer rates are now falling in Australia, but around a thousand people die each year as a result of living in this sun burnt country.
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