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277 points petethomas | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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ponchel ◴[] No.45298303[source]
Who actually thought that getting sunlight was bad ?
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uncircle ◴[] No.45298358[source]
There is a lot of weird discussion on English-speaking forums that you should always always wear sunscreen, even if the day is grey, because skin cancer is a constant risk.

I do not get if it’s a massive and long-running marketing campaign that has brainwashed the entire population, if it’s because many living in US and UK have a very white skin tone thus burn easily, or what else. Skin cancer is a fact of life, but for a species that evolved in the sun, I do not believe one bit that sun exposure, which incidentally is linked to many benefits because it’s so bloody normal, is something that can only be dealt with modern technology and we should be deathly afraid of it. Sure, UV radiation can cause mutations, but our immune system has evolved over billions of years to deal with this exact problem.

By all means use sunscreen if you have to spend a lot of time in the sun and risk a very unpleasant sunburn, but I wish someone would explain the Anglo obsession with daily sunscreen routine.

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jusssi ◴[] No.45298596[source]
Maybe we're getting more UV now than we evolved with?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_depletion

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1. amanaplanacanal ◴[] No.45305087[source]
It's a small factor, but humans evolved in the tropics. Ancestral humans has very dark skin because of the tropical UV exposure. Then when some moved into Europe and Asia, selection pressure means they rapidly lost their pigmentation because they weren't getting enough vitamin D.