TikTok influencers claim sunscreen is harmful. Here’s why that’s wrong, and dangerous
Source: The Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, May 2024
Summertime is coming to Florida, which means fun in the sun, cool drinks, blue skies, and, possibly, skin cancer.
That smooth, even tan you got at the beach? That is, essentially, an attractive radiation burn from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays and too much exposure can cause out-of-control growth of abnormal cells. And skin cancer stats are troubling.
- Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the U.S.
- 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer by the time they turn 70, according to The Skin Cancer Foundation.
- The American Cancer Society estimates that about 100,640 new melanomas of the skin — the most dangerous of the skin cancers — will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2024.
- An estimated 9,880 people of those are expected in Florida alone.
- About 8,290 people are expected to die from melanoma this year.
- From 2003 to 2022, an average of nearly 690 people in Florida died from melanoma every year, according to state Department of Health data.
- And, most importantly: Skin cancer is the most easily preventable cancer.