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Article: Skin Cancer and Sun Smarts
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 10, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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How many people develop skin cancer annually? For years, doctors
and public health officials have struggled to calculate that figure,
but were hampered by the fact that the vast majority of skin cancers
- perhaps as many as 97 percent - go unreported.
Now, as millions of Americans are preparing for the summer
months and their greatest sun exposure, scientists believe they have
a better handle on the statistics. A study released last week by
Boston University researchers estimated that 1 million Americans
will be diagnosed with skin cancer this year.
The researchers estimated that as many as one in three Caucasian
Americans will develop basal cell skin cancer (the kind that