06/13/2007

The case for protecting kids from the sun

By Lauran Neergaard
The Associated Press

Shade your kids.

Strong new evidence suggests overall sun exposure in childhood, not just burns, is a big key to who later develops deadly skin cancer.

The news comes as the government is finishing long-awaited rules to improve sunscreens.

The Food and Drug Administration wants sunscreens to be rated not just for how well they block the ultraviolet-B rays that cause sunburn — today's SPF rankings — but for how well they protect against deeper-penetrating ultraviolet-A rays that are linked to cancer and wrinkles.

New research into how the sun and genetics interact points to a possibly more important step consumers can take now to shield their children, and themselves: Check the weather forecast for the day's "UV index” in your town, to learn when to stay indoors or in the shade.

Why? Where you live, not the every-so-often beach vacation, determines most of your UV exposure. UV levels vary from state to state, even day to day, because of things like altitude, cloud cover and ozone.

Melanoma is the most lethal skin cancer. It will strike almost 60,000 Americans this year, and kill some 8,100. Cases have been on the rise for three decades, and while it usually strikes in the 40s or 50s, doctors are seeing ever-younger cases, occasionally even in children.

Scientists are studying the interaction of genes and UV exposure in melanoma patients in the U.S. and Australia. Initial results suggest staying in the shade in early life is even more important than previously realized.

An analysis of tumor genes from 214 melanoma patients now living in North Carolina showed that patients with the most common known melanoma mutations, called BRAF mutations, also had the highest UV exposure by age 20. Interestingly, they also had the most moles, another important melanoma risk factor.

What does that mean? It's not clear yet, but young, rapidly growing skin may be particularly vulnerable to damaging UV rays, especially as moles are developing, Thomas says. Or maybe early childhood sun exposure spurs moles to develop in the first place.

Dr. Darrell Rigel of New York University, a past president of the American Academy of Dermatology, has some advice:

• Use enough sunscreen. An adult needs the equivalent of a full shot glass, and a young child a good tablespoon-full.

• While official recommendations say wear at least an SPF-15 sunscreen daily, a super-high SPF is better.

• Products with the ingredient Helioplex — a more sun-stable mix of the sunscreen ingredients avobenzone and oxybenzone — seem to provide longer-lasting UVA protection.