Congressman Mike Castle (R-Del.) used Rehoboth Beach as a backdrop last week to once again urge federal officials to further protect Delawareans and all American citizens from the sun’s rays by strengthening sunscreen standards.
According to Castle’s office, the Food and Drug Administration currently regulates protection from UVA rays but not UVB rays, which also lead to skin diseases — including melanoma. Castle sent a letter to FDA officials last month, urging protection against UVB rays. Last Friday, the veteran U.S. Congressman joined American Cancer Society officials, cancer survivors and patients in making his call for enhanced standards.
“The bottom line is I don’t want to see anyone suffer,” Castle told a small crowd battling strong winds on the Rehoboth grandstand last Friday. “I know this isn’t the end-all-be-all, but it’s a start.”
Castle said Friday that 190 Delaware residents this year will be diagnosed with melanoma of the skin, a potentially fatal cancer. Excessive exposure to UV rays, including those created by tanning beds, can cause melanoma, according to the American Cancer Society.
Moles, especially if large or prevalent, can render someone more susceptible to the disease. And someone who has a family history of skin cancer is at a higher risk of developing it themselves, according to the society’s Web site at www.cancer.org.
Age can also be a factor. The American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 60,000 Americans will develop melanoma this year and about 8,110 will die from the disease. Castle wrote in his March 2 letter that one American dies each hour from skin cancer.
Michelle Rigney, a 21-year-old Newark native who vacations with her family in Rehoboth, was diagnosed with melanoma at 19. Originally diagnosed at Stage 1, she now has Stage 4 cancer and it recently spread into her lungs. Rigney, a research patient being treated at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., joined Castle and other officials Tuesday to promote more stringent governmental protection.
“It’s been a very long road, but it’s something I think could have been prevented,” said Rigney, who admitted that time in a tanning bed while in high school could have contributed to the development of her disease, which grew from a mole on her back. “I’m very grateful to be here, speaking for the younger generation.”
Kathleen Griffin, who survived her bout with skin cancer, said she always protected herself when in the sun, with the highest level of sunscreens. Her testimony last week helped hammer home, and perhaps justify, Castle’s point about enhanced standards.
“I thought sunscreens were going to protect me,” Griffin said. “I used them religiously and the biggest (sun protection factor levels) so I was shocked. I thought I was using the best protection and I was not.”