Since the introduction of the bikini in the 1930's, incidences of skin cancer have increased at an alarming rate. There is speculation that the change in fashion has much to do with the coinciding rise in melanoma.
swimwear before the 1930's exposed only modest amounts of skin to "the sun's harmful UV rays" but with the introduction of the bikini for women and with men choosing to wear only shorts over a full swimsuit the skin exposed to the sun went from around 20% to around 80%.
With the change in fashion also came a change in attitude towards donning a suntan. Where a tan was once thought to be attributed to the lower or working class who had to spend their hours laboring outdoors, it began to shine as a symbol of affluence and health, basically if you had a tan it meant you could afford to go on holiday.
So it makes sense that ego driven folk spending longer in the sun to achieve a healthy golden glow and exposing more skin to its "harmful rays" would be the explanation for such an absurd rise in skin cancer, a 400% rise between the 1930's and 1960's, because we are idiots who made a choice to start cooking ourselves in the sun?
The worrying thing is that the rates of skin cancer continued to rise at an alarming rate and are still rising. So up until the 1930's we had survived as a species for a very long time with little threat of skin cancer, along comes the bikini and a desire for a tan and rates of skin cancer rise rapidly.
The thing is we are not being told that bikinis are dangerous, we are being told that the sun is dangerous, a fundemental element to life on earth and we are continuously advised to avoid it. Perhaps climate change is responsible and the suns "harmful rays" have just become more and more dangerous over the last century to the point that today we are not supposed to expose any amount of our skin to the sun for any amount of time without using sunscreen.
The bikini wasn't the only thing that was introduced in the 1930's. Sun lotion, at that time called suntan lotion and advertised as a means to achieve a nice tan without getting sunburn, was brought to market. The correlation between skin cancer and sun lotions are too big a coincidence to ignore.
By the 1960's with the sharp rise in melanoma and people starting to worry about the risks of sun exposure, suntan lotion was basically re-branded as sunscreen and marketed as the thing that will protect us from the dangerous sun and prevent skin cancer.
There are a number of medical professionals who have revealed their findings on the issue and state that Sunscreen is premoting skin cancer and natural sun exposure prevents skin cancer
Sunscreen causes cancer
There are two forms of UV from the sun, UVB which causes sunburn and UVA which causes DNA damage. Many sunscreens only protect against sunburn by stopping UVB though allow the UVA to penetrate. Sunburn caused by UVB is the bodys natural warning to get out of the sun, taking this warning sign away and allowing the UVA to continue to penetrate the skin causes damage to the DNA and ultimately cancer.
Even when a sunscreen protects against both UVA and UVB it is then preventing vitamin D production and can lead to vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of cancer dramatically.
The chemicals used to block UVA and UVB have shown to have negative hormonal effects in mice causing things such as impotence, these chemicals have also been shown to pass into the skin and damage DNA which causes ageing and can cause cancer as well as pass cell membranes into the brain and actually kill brain cells
There are three different types of skin cancer, two types of cancer are caused by over exposure to the sun and appear on areas of the body prone to sunburn, however, these cancers spread slowly and are considered easily treatable if they are detected early enough. Malignant melanoma, the most dangerous and worrying form of skin cancer does not occur as a result of sunburn and often appears in sunlight deprived areas of the body such as the sole of the foot or between the glute muscles.
Sunglasses may promote cancer as the amount of light entering the eye signals to the body whether it is night or day, a lack of light to the eye will signal night time and prevent production of daytime chemicals to assist in dealing with sun exposure.
The skin is naturally adaptable to the sun and sensible sun exposure will not only allow for us to spend longer periods of time in the sun as we develop a tan, but is essential in lowering the risk of cancer. Anti-oxidants in the diet will help provide the body with its own natural sunblock.
Sunscreen is really bad for you and promotes cancer.
Sunlight is really good for you, embrace it, respect it and listen to your body.