Australia Has Some of the Highest Skin Cancer Rates. More Diversity Might Be Changing That.

You can slather on all the sunscreen you want but nothing prevents skin cancer quite like melanin, the natural skin cancer repellent. That’s probably why a recent study found that older, whiter generations of Australians have more skin cancer diagnoses than younger, more ethnically diverse, darker-skinned Australians.

Skin cancer, otherwise known as melanoma, is a serious form of cancer that arises from melanocytes, which are the cells that are responsible for skin pigmentation. Melanoma is one of the less common forms of skin cancer but it accounts for a majority of skin cancer-related fatalities. 

By the way, why don’t you take a second to learn how to check your self for melanomas?

Australia is a sunny nation that has a long history of high melanoma rates. It was so serious that back in the 1980s, Australia and New Zealand constantly ran a catchy little public service announcement featuring an anthropomorphic seagull named Sid who told people to “Slip! Slop! Slap!” to protect themselves from harsh sun exposure.

It was a mnemonic device that reminded Australians to slip on a shirt, slop on sunblock, and slap on a hat that provided adequate protection. And it worked! Cases of melanoma dropped in the decades since, probably with a little help from a revival of the campaign in 2010. 

A skin cancer expert ironically named David Whiteman says that changes in Australian demographics have played a big role, too. Whiteman says that while melanoma rates have increased in people over the age of 50, they have declined among younger Australians who tend to be more racially diverse. The researchers of the study found that in 2006, an estimated 85.3 percent of Australians were at a high risk for melanoma. By 2021, that number dropped to 71 percent.

On the whole, younger Australians might be a little bit darker-skinned than they used to be, but Whiteman (lol) said that even lighter-skinned Australians of European descent are at lower risk today since so much of modern life is more indoor-focused than outdoor. Being an indoor kid might be destroying your social skills, but it’s keeping you safe from life-threatening melanomas.