Beach vacations can be cancerous for your kid: Study

Denver, February 4: According to a latest study, holidaying at the beach during childhood can increase the probability of the child getting affected with, life-threatening, skin cancer melanoma during later life. Picture: Get original file (12KB) Full Article: For the research purposes, Denver researchers took into account 681 children born in Colorado in 1998. They questioned their parents about childhood holidaying destinations and then conducting skin tests when they were seven years of age. This was done to check the presence of moles. These moles are an important factor in determining the development of deadly melanoma. Study senior author, Lori Crane, an associate Professor and Chairwoman of Community and Behavioral Health at Colorado School of Public Health, said, “Moles went up by five percent for every vacation they took.” However, Crane revealed that daily exposure to sun at home was not connected to the number of moles that the children developed. But the vacations by the beachside did affect the number of moles present on children. Moreover, sunscreen use did not seem to have any effect on the growth of moles. Crane added, “Ninety percent said they used sunscreen most or all of the time.” Crane explained that parents think sunscreen can protect against skin cancer. But sunscreen offers protection only upto a certain extent. The protection from sunscreen expires after a point in time if the child ventures out in the sun for longer periods of time. As per a skin cancer expert, the latest study reaffirms the fact that too much exposure to sun, especially intermittent exposure during childhood, can significantly raise the risk of melanoma in later life. Dr. Clifford Perlis, Director of MOHS and Dermatologic Surgery at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, elaborated that most of the other types of skin cancers are related to cumulative sun exposure. But in case of melanoma, it is intermittent exposure that matters and the exact reasons for this are still not known. Perlis was quoted as saying, “What this study does support is what we have been saying for a long time- limit sun exposure during peak hours. Wear protective clothing.” Crane suggested that parents should avoid taking their children out on beach vacations till they are 10 or 12. She said, “They should not rely just on sunscreen. They should get water shirts for their kids. They should try to avoid middle-of-the-day outside activities.” The present study has been published in the Feb. issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.