Les bancs solaires augmentent le risque de cancer de la peau, indique - une fois de plus - un avis scientifique adressé à la Commission européenne. Une étude britannique révèle, en effet, que chaque année une centaine de Britanniques décèdent des suites d'une exposition excessive aux rayons dans des bancs solaires. Les appareils qui produisent des rayons UV sont surtout dangereux pour les jeunes de moins de 18 ans, pour les personnes à peau claire et pour les celles ayant des antécédents familiaux.
Ces catégories de personnes ne devraient jamais s'allonger dans un banc solaire, selon les scientifiques.
La Commission européenne dispose de peu de compétence pour remédier à la situation et invite, de ce fait, les pays membre à se montrer plus actifs pour contrer la mauvaise utilisation des bancs solaires. Selon la Commission, la puissance de certains appareils pose également problème. La fixation des normes de production doit être l'affaire d'organes indépendants compétents, souligne la Commission qui les invite à fixer les limites pour les rayons UV.

ça, on le savait déjà.

(July 19, 2009) — New research has shown why people with the greatest number of moles are at increased risk of the most dangerous form of skin cancer.
Une nouvelle recherche a montré pourquoi les gens avec le plus grand nombre de grains de beauté sont plus à risque de la forme la plus dangereuse de cancer de la peau.

The study, led by Professors Julia Newton Bishop and Tim Bishop of the Melanoma Genetics Consortium (GenoMEL) at the University of Leeds, looked at more than 10,000 people, comparing those who have been diagnosed with melanoma to those who do not have the disease.
10,000 personnes comparées dans une étude.
Researchers across Europe and in Australia, looked at 300,000 variations in their research subjects' genetic make-up, to pinpoint which genes were most significant in developing melanoma – a disease which causes the overwhelming majority of skin cancer related deaths. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Genetics.

Pour trouver les gènes responsables du mélanomes...
Across the large sample, a number of clear genetic patterns emerged.
It is already well known that red-haired people, those with fair skin and those who sunburn easily are most at risk of melanoma, and the people who had been diagnosed with melanoma were found to be much more likely to be carrying the genes most closely associated with red hair and freckles. "This is what we expected to find," said Professor Bishop of the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine and the Cancer Research UK Centre at Leeds. "But the links seemed to be much stronger than we anticipated."
Ils ont trouvés que les personnes avec les cheveux roux à la peau claire et qui attrapent un coup de soleil facilement sont les plus susceptibles d'avoir le mélanome c'était connu mais ce qui a surpris c'est la force du lien.
"We had known for some time that people with many moles are at increased risk of melanoma. In this study we found a clear link between some genes on chromosomes 9 and 22 and increased risk of melanoma. These genes were not associated with skin colour," he added.
Quelques gènes sur les chromosomes 9 et 22 représentent des risques de mélanomes et ces gènes sont associés à la couleur de la
"Instead, in joint research with colleagues at King's College London and in Brisbane who counted the number of moles on volunteer twins, we showed that these genes actually influenced the number of moles a person has."
Ces gènes influencent le nombre de grains de beauté d'une personne
Around 48,000 people worldwide die of melanoma each year. It is more common in males and those with pale skin – and is on the increase. It is widely believed that the increase in melanomas is largely due to social and behavioural activities, such as increased exposure to the sun, partly caused by the availability of cheaper foreign holidays. Sunny holidays increase the risk because it is intermittent sun exposure which causes melanoma rather than daily exposure over longer periods of time.
Even so, the process by which sunlight and genetics combine to cause cancer in some people, is still poorly understood, as Professor Bishop explained: "If you take the people who have the greatest exposure to sunlight – those who work outside for example – and compare them to those with the least exposure, their risks of getting skin cancer are actually quite similar. Statistically, the differences are quite negligible.
"What we do know is that the combination of particular genes and a lifestyle of significant sun exposure is putting people at greatest risk."
"Nous savons que les personnes avec certains gènes et un certain style vie (des vacances qui impliquent une exposition rapide à un soleil plus fort) sont plus à risque
The research shows that there are at least five genes which influence the risk of melanoma. A person carrying all the variants associated with an increased risk is around eight times more likely to develop melanoma than those carrying none, though the majority of people carry at least one of these variants.
Sara Hiom, Cancer Research UK's director of health information, said: "The more we can understand malignant melanoma through research like this the closer we should get to controlling what is an often fatal cancer. This study confirms Cancer Research UK's advice in its SunSmart campaign that people with lots of moles – as well as those with red hair and fair skin – are more at risk of the most dangerous form of skin cancer and should take extra care in the sun.
"The research goes further and identifies the actual genes associated with this increased risk."