www.straight.com/article-153747/that-healthy-tan-may-be -
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Published on: 7/17/2008
Last Visited: 7/18/2008
But Harvey Lui, head of UBC's department of dermatology, believes that just as important as the issue of ozone thinning is the fact that there is too much unprotected exposure."The rise in skin cancers over the last several decades is as much related to just increased intentional and recreational exposure to the sun as environmental changes in the sunlight that's reaching the surface of the earth," Lui told the Straight.
A skin-cancer researcher with the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and the B.C. Cancer Agency, Lui pointed out that the preference for tanned skin has somewhat decreased."In the past, the ideal image of a person, of someone who's healthy and fit, is someone who's very tanned," he said."That's not what we consider healthy skin anymore.We don't see those kinds of images as much, but it takes time for attitudes and beliefs to change."
Dermatologists aren't suggesting that people should live in caves, Lui said, adding that sunlight is needed for a sense of well-being.