How does UV radiation affect human skin?
One of the most obvious effects of UV-B radiation is sun-burn, known technically as erythema. Dark skinned people are protected from most of his effect by pigment in their skill cells. UV-B can also damage the genetic materials in skin cells, which can cause cancers. For fair-skinned people, life-long exposure to high levels of UV- B increases the risk of non-melanoma skin cancers. Researchers have suggested that these kinds of skin cancer are likely to increase by 2 percent for each 1 percent decrease of stratospheric Ozone. There is also some evidence that increased exposure to UV-B, especially in childhood, can increase the risk of developing more dangerous melanoma skin cancers.
