Prevention Matters

"Best and Worst News for Prevention” is based on a purposive sample consisting of expert staff members who each week choose to share their opinions on the best and worst news for prevention.

BEST

Doctors Urge Indoor Tanning Ban for Minors

U.S. tanning salons should close their doors to minors to protect them from skin cancer, a group of 60,000 pediatricians said Monday in a new policy statement. With the move, the American Academy of Pediatrics joins the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Academy of Dermatology and other groups that are already pushing for a ban. Since 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the WHO, has classified tanning beds as cancer-causing. Research shows people who start going to tanning salons before age 35 have a 75-percent increase in their chances of developing melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer.

WORST

Smoking Linked to Infant Heart Defects


A pregnant woman who smokes in her first trimester is much more likely to have an infant with a congenital heart defect, U.S. health officials say.  A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta found tobacco exposure is associated with a 20 percent to 70 percent increased risk of certain types of defects such as those that obstruct the flow of blood from the right side of the heart into the lungs and openings between the upper chambers of the heart.


The “Best and Worst” awards are announced each week in “Prevention Matters,” the blog of Partnership for Prevention. "Best and Worst News for Prevention” is based on a purposive sample of expert staff members who each week choose to share their opinions on the best and worst news for prevention. More information is available at http://www.prevent.org/.

Two new studies published in the March issue of the Archives of Dermatology might give us reason to trade in that slogan for “time to pay the piper”.

Referring to non-melanoma skin cancer: "We are dealing with a problem that is not going away," said Dr. Howard Rogers, a dermatologist in Norwich, Conn., and lead author of one of the studies. "The number has kept going up and up at a rate of 4.2 percent every year, on average, from 1992 to 2006," he said. One study found that one in five 70-year-olds has been treated for non-melanoma skin cancer.

As the baby-oiled sun worshippers grow older, they have a high probability of getting basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma. These non-melanoma skin cancers are not usually fatal, but can be disfiguring and can matastasize. "This is only going to get worse," said Dr. Suephy Chen, an associate professor of dermatology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. "Our population is aging. Those people who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s when there was not a big sun-protection message out there are now coming into their 50s and 60s and are starting to develop skin cancers."

Dermatologists suggest these practices to better your odds against skin cancer: apply broad-spectrum sunscreen liberally and often, wear hats and other protective clothing when out in the sun, avoid sun exposure when the sun's rays are the strongest -- between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., and never using tanning beds. “It's especially important to take these steps with children and teens (to the extent they will listen)”, Rogers said. “Skin cancer is turning up in younger and younger patients”. In the past week or so, he removed non-melanoma cancer off the cheek of a 17-year-old boy and removed a melanoma from an 18-year-old girl.

Because skin cancer is one of the most preventable diseases Americans face, Partnership for Prevention underscores these health recommendations. With over one million new diagnoses predicted in 2010, affecting more people than all other cancers combined, the time is now to use sense in the sun.

David Zauche
Managing Senior Fellow & Senior Program Officer
Partnership for Prevention

A creative contest that helped pay for a New England high school’s prom in return for student’s pledges not to tan for it was named the Best Prevention Idea of the Week, while an amendment passed by the U.S. Senate gutting the District of Columbia’s ability to restrict the use of firearms was named the Worst Prevention Idea of the Week.

The Best/Worst honors are a regular feature of Prevention Matters. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week’s news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.

BEST IDEA

High School Wins $1,000 for Not Tanning

Over 500 Waltham, MA, High School students promised not to tan for this year's prom - and it paid off. As part of the Your Skin is In contest, the school won $1,000 from the Melanoma Foundation of New England to use toward the spring dance. The nonprofit, dedicated to education about early detection and prevention of melanoma, asked students across New England to sign a no-tanning pledge. Schools that got at least 70 percent of their prom-going class to sign the pledge were entered into a raffle with a chance to win $1,000 or $500 in prizes and tickets to Six Flags New England. Over 5,500 students across New England signed the pledge. Schools that got at least 70 percent of their prom-going class to sign the pledge were entered into a raffle with a chance to win $1,000 or $500 in prizes and tickets to Six Flags New England. Over 5,500 students across New England signed the pledge.


WORST IDEA

Senate approves amendment gutting DC gun restrictions

District of Columbia residents would have far greater access to firearms, including semiautomatic weapons, under a measure approved recently by the U.S. Senate. The 62-36 vote was a victory for the pro-gun lobby which has waged a lengthy battle against the tough antigun laws imposed by the district on its residents. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., offered the measure as an amendment to legislation giving the district a vote in the House of Representatives. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, in protesting the amendment, said it would allow D.C. residents to cross state lines to buy handguns in neighboring states and would repeal the district's ban on military-style weapons, including sniper rifles that can pierce armor plating. It would lower from 21 to the federal limit of 18 the age when people can possess handguns and ease the district's registration requirements.