Amanda Miller, Again Faster, the Sun, And You

A longish post, stay with it.  The BLUF:  lack of sun exposure is more dangerous than sun exposure.  Like economists, we must consider not just what is seen but what is unseen in evaluating cost/benefit.

On April 23, 2010, CrossFitter and Games athlete Amanda Miller passed away after her battle with melanoma. In memory of her life and friendship, Dave Lipson wished to give back.  Dave's tribute to Amanda is simple: He's backsquatting at least 450 pounds, every day for a year.  Dave is seeking to raise awareness of skin cancer and it's dangers, and we're here to help.  By purchasing a shirt below, you're supporting Dave, Amanda, and skin cancer research. 100% of the profits from the sale of the Amanda Miller/365 Days of Squatting T-Shirts will go to the Melanoma Research Foundation, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for melanoma. Please visit 365 Days of Squatting for more information.  http://www.againfaster.com/amanda-miller-apparel/

Amada's story was poingnant - CrossFit Games athlete in 2009, dead from skin cancer in 2010.  The first WOD of the 2010 Games was named in her honor, and I love that Again Faster and Dave Lipson are making this tribute. 
Amanda's case reminded me of this bit of conjecture from Dr. Mike Eades' blog:
I touched on the idiotic extremes the dermatology mainstream have adopted to discourage people from spending time in the sun.
It’s worse than I thought.
Not long after posting, I came across a McClatchy column in our local paper pushing the perspective of most dermatologists, a perspective that’s so unbelievable that it almost reaches comedic proportions. (Our local paper requires paid registration, so I’ve linked here to a paper that doesn’t.) The piece serves to show in spades the way dermatologists think (if that’s what you call it), and lets us know why their advice should be taken with a huge grain of salt.
More:
But what about vitamin D?  A lowly SPF 8 reduces vitamin D synthesis by 90 percent, so your sunscreen-slathered walk from the car to the store gains you no vitamin D. Where should you get it?  Well, if you ask the question, the good doctors start finger wagging.

And don’t make the vitamin D argument, which says sun exposure is necessary to absorb the highly important vitamin. Just take a vitamin supplement

Okay.  But Dr. Holick writes

when you are exposed to sunlight, you make not only vitamin D but also at least five and up to ten additional photoproducts that you would never get from dietary sources.

The bottom line:
68,720 melanomas, which are malignant, are much more attention getting.  But, there is no evidence that excess sun exposure causes melanoma, while there is data showing that chronic sun exposure and vitamin D seem to prevent it.
Just for grins, let’s go along with Jane and assume that melanoma is caused by the sun.  If we go to the latest cancer statistics from the American Cancer Society (ACS), we find that 8,700 people died last year from melanoma.  We know that sun exposure and vitamin D (along with maybe the other 5-10 photoproducts we synthesize from sun exposure) help prevent breast, colon and prostate cancer.  If Jane is correct and we avoid the sun, we run less risk of being one of the 8,700 people who perish from melanoma. But what about the other side of the coin?
According to the same ACS statistics, last year 40,230 people died from breast cancer, 32,050 from prostate cancer and 51,370 from colon cancer. So, on the one hand, we have 8,700 people die of a disease that probably isn’t related to sun exposure while on the other we have 123,650 who died from cancers known to be related to lack of sun exposure.  I don’t know about you, but I’ll go with the sun exposure, “disfiguring” superficial skin cancers be damned.
Plus, we didn’t even mention the devastating disease multiple sclerosis, a disease much more common in those with little sun exposure.  There are between 250,000-350,000 new cases of MS diagnosed each year. I’ll be happy to accept the risk of a few minor cancers to significantly reduce my risk of developing MS.
The danger of too much sun is minimal – the danger of too little sun is enormous.  I know which side I come down on.  
In terms of our current discussion, we could say, "Don’t be skin-cancer-wise and colon-breast-prostate-foolish."