suebo

On another note, cancer is lower in Eastern countries. But it is also not as high in England or USA or any other Western country as it is in OZ. It has been proven that OZ has the biggest hole in the Ozone, that is why there is so much skin cancer there.

Ceri

Have you watched the news recently? The Ozone hole has actually got smaller... it's broke into two smaller holes Scientists discovered that, a couple of months back... it's getting smaller

I know Australia has the highest cancer rate.. in Britain it's too cold most of the year to run around in shorts

Have you ever seen a Cornish fisherman? Black as hell.. although it's cold. But they are tanned black, face like leather... exposed to the weather all year round, where most people aren't because they are covered up with coats etc.

Nobody is disputing that Australia hasn't got the highest cases of skin cancer. But to blame it on the ozone hole .. oh well

People in the East generally cover themselves up, or shade, religion or, and, they do not want to get sun burnt. People in UK are covered up because it's cold

Australia was, and still to a point is a nation of sun lovers.. whether it's surfing, beach going, bush walking, or enjoying a lazy day barbequing on a sunny afternoon... Australians have in the past sunbathed, drenched themselves in olive oil to catch the sun more (cancer cases are high among this older generation). Australia has and still do love the sun. Of course skin cancer will be high if people do insist on not covering up in 30 odd degree heat.

You'll also find if you do a search that skin cancer rates are dropping/going down a bit in Australia, since people are now taking notice and wearing sunblock, and not being so stupid as they were in the past.

cheers

Perth Helena

I've read this too, and my dermatologist has said the same. The groups worst hit are people in their 50's and older, and especially men. They were young during the era when nobody heard of SPF and UV rays, etc. When you laid out in the sun, or worked shirtless, and burned, then peeled, then did it all over again. Stats have shown the rate of increase of melanoma and other skin cancers to be decreasing in younger age groups. Plus, Australia has the highest rate of detection and cure since we're so conscious of the dangers of the sun. Well, most of us are. I'm still amazed at those you see roasting themselves on the beach. It's kind of like seeing people with kids smoking around them. You wonder "where's their common sense?"

But people take risks all the time. Drive fast, smoke, drink too much, don't exercise, eat too much fat. Human nature. You can preach about sun safety all you want, and it'll get through to most, like preaching about the dangers of smoking, but not to all. I just hope my teenager kids will stay smart about the sun. I've heard this group has recently started to rebel and be a bit sun stupid. Not good.

pommie bastard

Just sun stupid , these poor souls live for the day the sun will shine on them and all will be sweetness and light ,Years of rain ,snow and dark days, god it makes wheep thinking what these people have had to go through and then they are told keep out of the sun.
Anyway sod all that how do I get rid of the flies going for a golf day tomorrow the cork hat gets in the way and buggers my swing up.

Perth Helena

Not "keep out of the sun", just be sunsmart. Besides, initially, the amount of sun will be amazing and newcomers will want to spend every minute enjoying it. But when you come to realise that there's so much sunshine so often, you get a bit blase about it almost. This spring's been a bit wetter and greyer than usual I hear. Been away for a month so I missed it. Nice today eh? Blue sky everywhere, bit chilly at 22 though.

Flies? Must be worse inland. Here by the beach, they don't bother me much. Too breezy, they can't land. To avoid flies, I hear you're supposed to avoid light coloured clothes, especially white, since they're attracted to the light. If you've got that lily-white Pom skin, you might want to cover that up. Saw a Pom the other day with legs so white they were almost blue. Poor things. Nothing better than my southern European olive skin. Have fun playing golf. My granny says eat lots of garlic - keeps all the bugs away.

pommie bastard

Can not say I got much sun at weekend got bloody soaked, but looks good tomorrow up at Sun City Yanchep will take your advice on flies ,them sand flies up there bite little sods.

Perth Helena

To keep things from biting, the only repellent to use is "Bushman" and "Bushman Plus". Forget the Aeroguard and other stuff. Useless compared to Bushman. Not sure how easy it is to find, but camping stores will have it.

pommie bastard

Try and look for some before I get home tonight , you are spot on about Areoguard it does not do the job thanks again.

suebo

Read some studies done about 8 or 10 years ago. It was proven that OZ has the biggest hole in the Ozone. And people were warned to keep out of the sun more for this fact because you will burn you a lot faster.

suebo

A Quote from an article I just read:

Ozone is a form of oxygen. It is the same as the oxygen in the air, except that it is O3 rather than O2, ie it has three oxygen atoms chemically combined together, not the two found in air. Ozone is found in tiny amounts throughout the atmosphere, but is concentrated mainly in the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere which is 8-15 kilometres above the earth's surface. Ozone in the stratosphere plays a large role in protecting us from the harmful ultra-violet (UV) radiation from the sun. Without the ozone layer, this radiation comes down onto the surface of the earth, causing skin cancer, destroying plants, and adversely affecting life on earth.

Had to check my facts out!!!!!!

Sandra

Good points

Sunsmart - http://www.cancer.org.au/

worth reading, My daughter wears a full 100% UV suit on beach, UV protected school stuff etc, basic stuff.

PS - I smoke! outside!

cheers

kaleb777

@Ceri - Of course I wasn't saying Brisbane is hot all year round. We do have winter here. It certainly is more sunny here though, and I've very rarely seen it get as hot in Asia as it does in Brisbane in Summer. Even all the Asians at work say they never experienced a 40 until the came to Australia. Most SE Asian countries are low 30s al year round. That is particularly true for Singapore. Only India gets temps similar to an Australian summer. Of course I'm not talking about the bayside suburbs or the Gold Coast. They never really get a true Brisbane summer. The western suburbs and Ipswich do. I live in the west and I have already had two 39s and a 40 around the time we got the dust storm. Right now it's a lot cooler again, especially in the mornings, and the days are a nice 33. Brisbane weather is of course a lot colder than SE Asia in winter, but it is generally hotter in summer, at mid to high 30s on average with the occasional 40-43. Brisbane has to be the most humid of the capitals though, excet maybe Darwin which experiences Asian type weather all year round with temps in the low 30s. I've never seen Darwin crack 35 yet it's closer to the equator.

On OZONE - UV light is absorbed when it splits O2 molecules. A split Oxgen will either combine with another single oxygen or with an O2 molecule making ozone - O3. UV light is also absorbed when ozone molecules are split. UV manufactures and destroys ozone.

The ozone hole rarely passed over Australia, and when it did it was the southern cooler states like Tasmania that were exposed to more UV light. New Zealand also had less ozone than say Queensland. There is no hole over Australia at all. At it's biggest Tasmania and Victoria sometimes caught the very edge of it, but it was Antarctica that was exposed all the time.

suebo

Okay I stand corrected. Australia has been effected by the hole in the Ozone that is in the Antartic. The hole there occurs every spring and is 3 times the size of Australia. Therefore I still say that is the reason OZ has the worst skin cancer, because of the thinning ozone layer there.

kaleb777

Even with equal amounts of ozone all over the world Australia would have the worst skin cancer. Why? Because the population is predominantly white living in a hot, sunny country with an outdoor lifestyle. There is no other place so sunny with a large white population. I doubt very much if the ozone hole gets up as far as QLD, the state with the highest skin cancer rate. It might rarely get as big as three times the size of Antarctica, but the Southern Ocean is huge. North QLD is almost at the equator. If the hole spread right over Australia it would be almost as big as the southern hemisphere. It usually only brushes Tierra Del Fuego in Sth America which is further south than NZ. I would very rarely pass as far north at Tassie.

Snowbird

Wont be long before you can just take a pill and turn yourself blue-black to avoid skin cancer. See
http://melanotan.org/
It is being developed in Australia but was discovered in Arizona, which, along with California, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and Texas gets as much sun as Australia.