Less Lethal Skin
Cancers (Basal And Squamous-Cell Carcinomas) Result From An
Exposure Of Up To Twenty Years?
In an attempt to answer that second question, doctors began
to focus on sunburn rather than sunlight—thinking perhaps
that fair-skinned office workers' irregular suntanning
habits had something to do with the fact that it is this
population most at risk. Critics say it is the use of
sunscreens in the first place that stops people from
developing a tan — the body's own natural sun¬screen— since
dark-skinned people rarely get skin cancer. There has also
been speculation about the decrease in the ozone layer
surrounding the earth (thereby admitting more harmful
ultravio¬let radiation), but ozone "holes" are thus far only
occurring only in the arctic regions.
Dr. Robert Becker, in his Cross Currents, has a more
interest¬ing thesis about melanoma's causal factors. The
highest inci¬dence of malignant melanoma in the United
States is at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in
Livermore, Califor-nia— considerably higher than that of the
surrounding popula¬tion. Despite the classified nature of
its military defense work, the Livermore lab is known to be
involved in the design and testing of exotic weapons. The
cancer epidemiology unit of the California Department of
Health Services undertook a study in 1977 to in¬vestigate
the excess of melanoma in those employed at Liv¬ermore, and
in 1985, Drs. Peggy Reynolds and Donald Austin reported
their findings. Not only was melanoma elevated above normal,
but so were the rates of cancers of the salivary glands,
colon, and brain (but only slightly above the population).
The melanoma, however, stood out in its excess, and the
researchers also noted that the cancers in general were not
of the types usu¬ally caused by ionizing radiation. Some
undetermined agent was causing the increases.
Unfortunately, no data were available to the California
Health Service study for an assessment of exposure to the
nonion¬izing bands. Dr. Becker had been a consultant to
Livermore on the potential hazards of DC magnetic-field
exposures, and he learned that some personnel were routinely
exposed to DC mag¬netic fields as high as 1,400 gauss for an
entire workday, and that the lab's standards had been set at
20,000 gauss for the body's extremities and 2,000 gauss for
the body's trunk region.
The hu¬man anatomy has never been exposed to such high
strengths, es¬pecially for such long, continuous durations.
The rise in melanoma in that particular group takes on great
clinical signifi¬cance, since not only were the melanoma
incidences higher, but those figures were already over and
above the already-mentioned increases for the normal
population.Several studies have reported significant rises
in the inci¬dence of melanoma in those who work under
fluorescent lights. Fluorescent tubes have strong magnetic
fields and also create a substantial exposure to UVA and UVB
radiation in both the office and the home.
Is there something particular to our increasing global EMF
environment and the rise in melanoma? Knowing what we
al¬ready do about how abnormal fields can stimulate cancer
cells, as well as their ability to create genetic damage at
a crucial stage of cell division, many now think that such a
link will eventually be made — perhaps to fluorescent lights
as well as other sources, mi¬crowaves in particular.
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"Revolutionary New Technologies
Protect You from the Harmful Effects of
Cell Phone Radiation,
Computers, Bluetooth Headsets, Microwave Ovens,
Cordless Phones, and other Wireless Technologies."
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to learn more
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