Dear Editor,
Some cancers can be prevented by staying up to date on cancer screenings and getting the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. February 4 is National Cancer Prevention Awareness Day but being aware is not enough. We need to act.
Screening tests for cervical and colorectal cancer can find the cells that lead to cancer so that they can be removed before cancer grows. HPV causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer and several other cancers. The HPV vaccine prevents most of these cancers, including cervical cancer.
There are also ways to lower your risk for some cancers. These include not smoking, protecting your skin from ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun or tanning beds, keeping a healthy weight, and limiting alcohol.
The Cancer Prevention in Action Program (CPiA) works to lower cancer in our community. We help employers develop policies for paid time off to allow their employees get cancer screening. CPiA educates health care providers, community organizations, parents, and young adults about the importance of the HPV vaccine. CPiA also works with businesses, schools, and other community partners to adopt sun safety policies to reduce exposure to cancer-causing UV rays.
To learn more about the CPiA Program contact us at 855-592-0830 or visit takeactionagainstcancer.com.
Thank you,
Leanna Cleveland, Carolyn Handville & Christina Wallace
Cancer Prevention in Action Oswego County
[email protected]
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This would have been a good article, but you made it a hit piece on sunlight exposure. Regular, non-burning sub exposure does not cause cancer; rather it diminishes melanoma. Here are some facts you should know:
In reality, the deadly skin cancer, melanoma, diminishes substantially with non-burning sunlight. Here are a few facts about melanoma that you should know:
•In the past four decades, sunscreen use has increased by 400%, and melanoma has increased by 400%!
•75% of melanomas occur on areas of the body that are seldom exposed to sunlight.
•In the U.S., as sun exposure has decreased by about 90% since 1935, melanoma incidence has increased by 000%!
•As in the US, while sun exposure in Europe has profoundly decreased, there has been a spectacular increase in melanoma.
•Men who work outdoors have about half the risk of melanoma as men who work indoors.
•Outdoor workers, while receiving 3-9 times the sun exposure as indoor workers, have had no increase in melanoma since before 1940, whereas melanoma incidence in indoor workers has increased steadily and exponentially.
•The advent of sunscreens, along with their steadily increasing use, has not reduced the risk of melanoma.
•Increasing melanoma incidence significantly correlates with decreasing personal annual sunlight doses.
•Outdoor workers do get numerous sunburns but still have a dramatically lower risk of contracting melanoma.
•New melanoma cases are several times higher per-capita in states like Utah, Vermont and New Hampshire than in Texas, which has the lowest rates of new melanoma. So, since melanoma increases as sun exposure decreases, should we continue to blame the sun?
More information: sunlightinstitute.org. In addition, read the book, Embrace the Sun