I've personally found that chemically burning one's face with fluorouracil for the treatment of skin cancer to be very inconvenient and painful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorouracil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorouracil
That’s why I wear a hat outside when I am not at work. Company dress code prohibits the wearing of hats at work.
Now here’s a thing .
When I first went to hot countries , I went in the company of many thousands of other servicemen .
Orders generally made us go round bare chested wearing shorts and flip flops . In all the times I went overseas , I never heard of skin cancer once . Never . Didn’t know there was such a thing .
Then suddenly , the "Clean Air " brigade came elbowing in . Very soon , the reported cases of skin cancer started to rise .
At the same time , surface visibility increased----things previously not visible in the haze at say , four miles , gradually became visible because there was no haze .
So you have to ask , have we , in the clamour for fashionable idiocy like Al Gore’s global warming and clean air and green things and Greenpeace chasing whales around the Japanese fishing fleets and generally being a bloody nuisance , have we made a rod for our own backs ?
Was man made haze actually protecting us ?
Do the Chinese suffer from skin cancer to the same extent ? -----NO!! , their industries belch out a protective screen and given the number of their population , skin cancer is comparitively rare .
Now , some moron will counter this by claiming (yes , you guessed) global warming is the cause , but wait a minute , it’s now called climate change because global warming turned out to be steady temperatures with an increasing icecap , and melting glaciers suddenly no longer mentioned .
Worth thinking about , is it not ?
And just in case you do think about it , seriously , before the industrial revolution when people lived in clearer air , skin cancer was not common simply because life expectancy was very low , so most people snuffed it before the sunshine had chance to do them much harm .
Don’t ya love the great god gore and his religious fanatics ?
Mike
Mike,
You make a very good point. It certainly is something to ponder.
Can anyone please explain why the avg. Temp on Mars since we started monitoring it, has raised at aprox. the same rate that the Earth has.
And OMG, a Glacier has retreated in the alps, only to reveal an ancient mine, with tools. I’m sure ancient man dug thru the glacier ( repeatedly as it moved) to mine, cause it’s been there [the glacier] forever.
Does the term Solar Cycle mean anything?
Bottom line. The Earth is going to do what it want’s to do, with or without man. Mankind just thinks it is more important then it really is. If you study the cosmos, you will realize how insufficient we really are in the bigger scene of things.
Just my thoughts…
Dave, there you go making sense again.
Another thing to consider about them folks from way back. They tended to be outside more then kids are in modern times. They tended to the farm animals and helped out, outside. Maybe being exposed to the sun from an early age, allowed them to develop a resistance to the damaging effects of the sun.
Its happening with illnesses too. Folks that aren’t routinely exposed to germs and such tend to be more likely to get sick, when they are exposed to something. They don’t have as much resistance as someone who isn’t living in a “clean room” type environment.
Now, y’all be careful. The whining ninies who lurk here without contributing anything will soon be sending complaining emails to our benevolent dictater (father of tater tot). 
Another point worth pondering , the folks from way back did not as a rule wash very often----no plumbed in baths , you see .
Now I am not suggesting that we all run around a bit muddy----even though in Henry VIII time it was fashionable NOT to bathe and so produce body odour that would kill a skunk at four miles .
No , I shall stick to my birthday bath , but you have to wonder if the peasantry , covered in several yards of manure and other soil , did themselves a favour by not walking around shining pink and merrily , but skulked around various mudpiles to add to their allure by stinking like a decaying cat . And to add to their allure slept with various farm animals in their houses to provide a modicum of heat for their smelly toes . Heaven help the poor bugger who fell in a river and came home clean to his not so clean wife , you can imagine the scene
“Who you been with , varlet ?”
“Fell in da river , dinn I?”
"Don’t lie to me you shiny sod , you bin after that milkmaid again , ain’tcha ? An’ if you fink I’m gonna bleedin’ well wash juss for a bit of legover , you can fink again . "
I believe in reincarnation , I was there , posing as a largish donkey .
Mike
Luddites Arise!
I wear long sleeves and a hat in S Az. The shirt is a micro weave anti UV. I stay cooler than those with bare arms and I don’t slather on unknown chemicals…
John
I read somewhere that they don’t need sunscreen in Beijing, the air is too " thick". Thick enough that many take the logical route and stay indoors. 
In contrast here in the Sunny Okanagan on a clear summer day - without smoke from wild fires in the air - one stays in the shade.
As Noël Coward wrote many years ago:
Partial quote
" …
The native grieve when the white Men leave their huts, because They're obviously definitely nuts! Mad dogs and Englishmen Go out in the midday sun The Japanese don't care to The Chinese wouldn't dare to Hindoos and Argentines sleep Firmly from twelve to one But Englishmen detest a siesta In the Philippines There are lovely screens To protect you from the glare In the Malay States There are hats like plates Which the Britishers won't wear At twelve noon the natives swoon And no further work is done But mad dogs and Englishmen Go out in the midday sun. ......................................"
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
I read somewhere that they don’t need sunscreen in Beijing, the air is too " thick". Thick enough that many take the logical route and stay indoors.
In contrast here in the Sunny Okanagan on a clear summer day - without smoke from wild fires in the air - one stays in the shade.
As Noël Coward wrote many years ago:
Partial quote
" …
The native grieve when the white Men leave their huts, because They're obviously definitely nuts! Mad dogs and Englishmen Go out in the midday sun The Japanese don't care to The Chinese wouldn't dare to Hindoos and Argentines sleep Firmly from twelve to one But Englishmen detest a siesta In the Philippines There are lovely screens To protect you from the glare In the Malay States There are hats like plates Which the Britishers won't wear At twelve noon the natives swoon And no further work is done But mad dogs and Englishmen Go out in the midday sun. ......................................"
And developed an empire upon which the sun never set. 
Mike Morgan said:
Then suddenly , the "Clean Air " brigade came elbowing in . Very soon , the reported cases of skin cancer started to rise .
At the same time , surface visibility increased----things previously not visible in the haze at say , four miles , gradually became visible because there was no haze .
So you have to ask , have we , in the clamour for fashionable idiocy like Al Gore’s global warming and clean air and green things and Greenpeace chasing whales around the Japanese fishing fleets and generally being a bloody nuisance , have we made a rod for our own backs ?
Was man made haze actually protecting us ?
Do the Chinese suffer from skin cancer to the same extent ? -----NO!! , their industries belch out a protective screen and given the number of their population , skin cancer is comparitively rare .
Mike
Skin cancer or lung cancer; take your pick.
Todd , I am not making light of cancer , my son is still being treated for it and has lost his job into the bargain----he cannot climb into the large vehicles that he trained forces blokes on because of the damage chemotherapy has done to his nerves ; they are scarred and the result is that when he moves , the nerves are twanged . Very painful .
In any case , it was testicular cancer and he certainly didn’t sunbathe with his groin aloft . So until it is known exactly what causes cancer , we can only point out the obvious changes in our environment .
And most importantly , your timely warning about sun screen has value . We should all take note .
And if you should happen to go to China , take breathing masks .
Mike
I beg the following question:
“Did skin cancer not exist 100 years ago, or did we not have the technology to recognize it?”
Bob Cope said:
I beg the following question:
“Did skin cancer not exist 100 years ago, or did we not have the technology to recognize it?”
Of course it did, but it took medical science a while to distinguish the different forms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_cancer
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer globally accounting for at least 40% of cases.
I know a lot of people who used to pride themselves on their terrific tan. Fifty years on they are mainly concerned about their very wrinkly skin, their multiple folds** and the potential for skin cancer.
In essence: a very good reminder, thank you Todd.
** Edited for more universal applicability of sentence.
I doubt it would have gone unrecognised as a malign sort of sore , after all , they knew about smallpox , measles , chicken pox and so on .
Dickens refers at times to a “Canker” , and so did Shakespeare , but I cannot remember in which books .
The reference to “a canker on society” comes up in various old tracts .
As to whether or not it was linked to the Sun by the population , I doubt it . It took ages to recognise dirty water caused various serious illnesses , in particular Cholera , yet people knew water was dodgy because they would not drink it ; home brewed ale was the usual drink , even for children and that goes way back .
I hasten to add that this was in the UK and parts of Europe . The Americas were clean until the immigrants turned up .
Mike
The first recorded instance of skin cancer being removed by surgery was by a Scottish Surgeon, John Hunter, in 1787.
Here is the Merk Manual’s treatise on skin cancer. Just follow the links.
Useless bar fact: Cancer takes its name from the Astrological sign of Cancer, the crab, in that most cancers have a central lesion, with numerous crab like “legs” emanating from it. This is useful in diagnosing skin cancers, as moles won’t have those legs.
Well, not many people got cancer when most were dead by age 40. Now that we live to 80 - 90 - 100 + years, we’re unhealthy and need to go back to the way things were when people lived to be 40?
Hans said —
“I know a lot of people who used to pride themselves on their terrific tan. Fifty years on they are mainly concerned about their very wrinkly skin and the potential for skin cancer.”
I have to respond by saying I had a permatan from so much overseas duty in the colonies , what?.
But wrinkles ?
Nah , mine have been ironed out by fat . I cannot gaze at my navel any more .
Mike
This was a side subject at Andy’s Ops this last weekend, as the sun certainly seemed quite intense.
LORD save us from ourselves. I have to agree with Dave, all we can do is adapt to our environment and try to live around the people that think they are in charge. Through years of training, I’ve learned to put on a coat when I get cold and get out of the sun if I’m hot.