Cancer Council is Australia’s peak national non-government cancer control organisation. Its vision is to minimise the threat of cancer to Australians, through successful prevention, best treatment and support.
Most Aussies think we have such high rates of skin cancer due to an ‘ozone hole’. But that’s not the case. Here’s why we have nearly a million cases of skin cancer per year.
Sunscreen protects from skin cancer, burning and from the sun’s ageing effects.
PRONicki Dugan Pogue/Flickr
Whenever summer rolls around, it’s easy to forget the basics of sunscreen. How long should I wait after applying it to go in the sun, and how long can I stay in the sun with it on?
We’ve known for over three decades that cancer risk increases with alcohol consumption.
from shutterstock.com
Of the 49 inks tested, only four complied with the European standards. Carcinogens were found in more than one-fifth of the samples, and in 83% of the black inks.
Age-standardised cancer death rates have been falling in Australia.
from shutterstock.com
Currently, seven cancer types are listed in the top 20 causes of death in Australia. These are cancers of the lung, blood and lymph, bowel, prostate, breast, pancreas, skin and some childhood cancers.
The UV Index was created last century largely for North American and European conditions, which rarely reach the ‘extreme’ range.
Andy Cross/Flickr
Alongside the day’s high and low, weather reports generally contain a UV alert for a particular time. But what does it actually mean – and what should you do about it?
Methods of communicating relative risk to the public are often confusing.
Brian Talbot/Flickr
The rate of Australians dying from cancer is on a steady, downhill trajectory, thanks to powerful advances made in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
People with skin cancers due to outdoor work receive around 15% of the total compensation paid.
sixninepixels/Flickr
Unlike workplace accidents, where injuries can be relatively quickly assessed and compensation awarded, it can take years or many decades before work-related cancers are diagnosed.
Aim to get a few minutes of summer sun each morning or afternoon.
ArTono/Shutterstock
It’s been more than 30 years since Sid Seagull first urged us to slip, slop and slap while out in the sun. But while we’ve made enormous progress fighting skin cancer, melanomas are still the fourth most…
A cancer cluster generally features an unusually high number of the same type of cancer occurring in a group of people with a common exposure.
Shutterstock
Most of us are living longer and we are all expected to be working longer. Because the likelihood of cancer increases as we age, we’re more likely to be diagnosed with cancer while still a member of the…
Reduce your cancer risk by reducing your alcohol consumption.
V31S70/Flickr
Alcohol and cancer is a topic that arouses a lot of controversy: many Australians like the odd drink but don’t want to make the connection to cancer, the world’s biggest killer. The World Health Organisation’s…
Being obese increases your risk of a number of common cancers.
CGP Grey/Flickr
The World Cancer Report 2014, the first global snapshot of cancer since 2008, shows the disease is now the world’s biggest killer. In 2012, there were 8.2 million cancer deaths and 14.1 million new cancer…
Just over 15% of Australians smoke daily and a further 1.5% smoke each week.
Flickr/benessere
If you only light up when you’re drinking or out with friends, you probably don’t identify as a smoker or consider the health impact of the occasional fag. Social smokers don’t usually smoke every day…
Even if sunscreen is applied very thickly, vitamin D production is reduced but not stopped.
Shutterstock
Vitamin D has emerged as “the vitamin of the decade”, with a long and growing list of maladies supposedly caused through its absence or prevented through its bountiful supply. But is there adequate evidence…
Australians are heeding the slip, slop, slap message, but skin cancer rates are still rising.
AAP/Tony Bartlett
Australians are becoming less attracted to having a suntan and fewer are being sunburned, but there’s been less improvement in wearing sunscreen in recent years, according to new research from the Cancer…
Based on the evidence, it’s safe to dismiss this one as a myth.
Flickr/lism
The concern that using deodorants and antiperspirants might increase the risk of breast cancer has been around for around for at least 15 years, probably longer. The theory suggests that either parabens…
Sunscreen shouldn’t be your only defence against the sun – clothing, hats, sunglasses and shade are equally important.
Flickr/stray kat
With the long, hot Australian summer comes the imperative to manage the country’s enormous skin cancer risk. Along with the growing raw numbers (11,545 skin cancer cases diagnosed in 2009) and rates of…
If policymakers understood what drives people to drink sugary drinks, they make take a different approach.
Ava Rose
Policymakers should understand the urge to drink soft drinks is genetically determined, rather than being solely a lifestyle choice, argue endocrinologists from the Garvin Institute of Medical Research…