Real Skin Cancer Cause

We are all aware that exposure to the sun has been blamed for the development of skin cancers, but what if the real skin cancer cause is something else that most people want to believe is harmless to us because it is so convenient?

The slip, slop, slap sun protection campaign has been around for several decades not only in Australia but in modified forms in many other western countries as well. How is it then that the incidence of malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, has been increasing alarmingly in western countries?

Dramatic Increase in Melanomas

Cancer Research UK [1] reports that melanoma skin cancer rates increased by 119% in the UK between the early 1990s and 2014, including a larger increase for men than women. Over the same period the European male melanoma skin cancer rate has increased 162%.

We know that in Australia the sun protection campaign has worked because sadly vitamin D deficiency is now commonplace in all age groups. Vitamin D is produced by exposing the skin to the sun and ultraviolet light, so clearly sun avoidance and/or the use of sunscreens, which block UV light, has worked to produce this widespread vitamin D deficiency.

So if people are not out in the sun as much or are supposedly protecting themselves with sunscreens, why have the rates of melanoma skin cancer increased and what is the real skin cancer cause?

Mobile Phone Radiation

Although there were early versions of mobile phones around in the 1980s, the roll out of affordable mobile phones only really started in the early to mid 1990s. Is this merely an interesting coincidence that since the early 1990s the rates of melanoma have increased so dramatically, or is there some potential causality in play?

A Swiss study from 2003 [2] found that non-ionising electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones caused cutaneous blood flow in the ear to increase dramatically by 157% when a mobile phone was touching the ear and receiving a call. Even with the mobile phone turned off but in contact with the ear skin, the flow rate increased by 61%.

It is very significant that mobile phone radiation can increase the blood flow rate in the skin so dramatically because it is increased blood flow to cancer cells that helps them to proliferate and grow rapidly. Effectively cancer cells want to grow by increasing the blood flowing to them in a process known as angiogenesis.

Since it has been demonstrated that mobile phone radiation increases the blood flow rate in skin, it seems logical to point the finger of blame at this means of increasing the blood flow to embryonic cancerous cells in the skin, thus giving those cells the opportunity to grow – in the same way as watering a weed will help it grow its root system. So is the real skin cancer cause much closer to hand than we ever thought?

Mobile Phone base stations cause DNA Damage

A very recent 2017 study [3] found that DNA was damaged and the anti-oxidative capacity of cells was reduced in people living in the vicinity of mobile phone base stations.

So radio frequency mobile phone radiation is capable of weakening our cells and making them less able to defend against oxidative damage or mutation, this in turn leads to a situation where cancer cells could form.

In addition, a very well referenced 2010 article “Skin cancer epidemic in a wireless world” [4], cites many studies confirming that even quite short exposure to mobile phone radiation can cause changes in skin cells including accelerating the skin ageing process.

Evidence for the Real Skin Cancer Cause

On the basis of the above reverenced studies, the following facts can explain why the real skin cancer cause could be the ever present mobile phone that most believe is harmless and so convenient.

Exposure to mobile phone radiation can damage our cells.
Damaged cells are less able to protect against oxidative stress.
Damaged cells are more likely to become abnormal with mutations.
Mutated cells are more likely to become cancerous.
Mobile phone radiation increases cutaneous blood flow.
Cancerous cells grow faster when blood flow to them is increased.

All of the above is accomplished by exposure to mobile phone radiation!!

Clearly, it would be of benefit if further research could be undertaken in this area to show conclusively the causal link between mobile phones and skin cancer, but for the moment we suggest erring on the side of caution and to:-

minimise the amount of time spend on your phone;
use speaker and hands free whenever possible;
keep your phone away from your body as much as possible;
use airplane mode and just turn your phone on every hour or so to check on messages and make calls;
remember the days before mobile phones when we were not contactable 24/7 – we still managed to survive and run our lives perfectly well;
turn off wifi at home, and also in your office if possible, and use a hard wired Ethernet cable instead;
keep your phone at least 4m away from you when you sleep if switched on or put it in airplane mode;
ensure children follow all of the above – their developing bodies are much more vulnerable.

Protecting ourselves from mobile phone radiation, Edith and Tim at CoolWellbeing Foundation