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Comment by simonbarker87 | Hacker News Reader

Agree! I think people are sooo scared of cancer (which is understandable) and have had 15 years of the sun screen industry beating the “always wear sun screen” drum (not that they are financially incentivised here at all!) that many people now just equate “sun = bad” because grey areas are hard.

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The financial incentives for the sunscreen industry works both ways. If all sun exposure is bad people will minimize going out and sunscreen sales would plummet (no one is wearing sun screen while sitting in their homes).

So, in fact, the sunscreen industry is entirely incentivized to push the “the answer is always at the center of the extremes” mantra that is being repeated in this comment thread. Because that’s maximizing the use of their product because people will still go out to get the benefits of the sun but need to apply sunscreen to avoid the negative effects.

I expected far more comments about how the profit motive so often manages to drown out the scientific evidence; little disappointed how far down the page I was before I saw yours.

You forgot that being vitamine D deficit makes you potential customer of whole pharma because of your weak immunity. Vitamins cannot be patented so their supplements could be done by anyone.

Agenda against sun exposing and relativization of vitamin D deficits is strong indeed.

It's also useful to note that skin cancer is very easy to catch early. Melanoma is definitely not something you want to have if you catch it late, but early detection is cheap (equipment required: eyes and a mirror) and easy.

Treatment prior to melanoma reaching the capillaries is also relatively cheap and easy (excision with margins), and extremely successful (>99% remission).

Median time between "that mole is looking a little weird" and the melanoma infringing on the capillaries is roughly 4 months.

So enjoy the sun and check your skin every month.

You should always wear sunscreen. You get all the benefits of the sun, including mental health, with sunscreen.

It's not magic. You're still in the sun. You're not inside.

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