There's no such thing as a healthy glow: cutaneous malignant melanoma--the case against suntanning.

One of the objectives of the 1992 United Kingdom Government White Paper 'Health of the Nation', is to reduce ill health and death caused by skin cancers by the year 2005. The Europe Against Cancer Programme shares those aims for the entire European population. Skin cancer was the first cancer demonstrated to have a chemical cause, with Percival Pott's 1775 description of squamous cell carcinoma of the scrotum induced by chimney soot, and skin cancers were also the first to be linked with ionising radiation. Currently there is a general consensus amongst researchers which acknowledges solar ultraviolet radiation as the major carcinogenic agent for the development of skin cancers. Changing attitudes and lifestyles affecting sun exposure is deemed responsible for the upward trends in incidence and mortality from skin cancers. The recognition of skin cancer as a preventable malignancy has implications for the health promotion role of nurses and of their multidisciplinary colleagues throughout Europe. This paper reviews the literature relating to sunlight as a risk factor for cutaneous malignant melanoma, and considers the behavioural issues which need to be addressed by healthcare professionals generally, and by nurses specifically, when establishing or participating in health promotion initiatives.