It has been established now, with proven studies that UV light reaching earth is not really increasing. But since a large percentage of the population worldwide has been misguided into believing otherwise, let us work out what the actual effect should be, of a hypothetical increase in UV radiation passing through our ozone.

Let us suppose UV penetration to the surface of the earth increases by 1% each year (which is not the case at all). Even such slight increases would still be hundreds, if not thousands, of times less than the normal variations people would experience simply because of differences in geography.

Let us assume that you move from an area near either one of the Polar Regions, e.g. Iceland or Finland, toward the equator, e.g. Kenya or Uganda in East Africa. By the time you reach the equator, you will have increased your body’s exposure to UV light by a whopping 5,000 percent!

If you live in England and decide to move to Northern Australia you will increase your exposure by 600 percent! Calculations show that for every six miles you move closer to the equator, you increase your exposure to UV light by 1 percent.

There is more sunlight and consequently more UV at the equator because the earth is a globe and the angle at which sunrays fall on its surface at different places is different.

The angle at which sunlight falls at the equator is nearly perpendicular to the earth’s surface. However as we move away from the equator we find that the sunrays incident on the surface are at an oblique angle because of the earth’s spherical form. The degree of the oblique angle gradually increases as we move closer to the poles.

As a result, the sunlight at the poles is much rarer than at the equator. In short, the UV at the poles is much lesser than at the equator.

Today, millions of people around the world travel from low UV exposure places to areas of high exposure near the equator - be it for business or for leisure. One day some place in Norway and the next day in Nairobi. Many thousands of tourists travel to areas that are located at much higher altitudes than where they normally live.

For every 100 feet of elevation there is a significant increase in UV radiation. But this does not prevent people from climbing mountains or living in countries like Switzerland or at the high altitudes of the Himalayan Mountains. People travel from all over the world to these places just for the experience of a lifetime.

According to the UV/cancer theory, most Kenyan, Tibetan, or Swiss residents should be afflicted with skin cancer today. Yet this is not the case at all. The fact is that those who reside at high altitudes or near the equator where UV radiation is the most concentrated are virtually free of all cancers, and not just skin cancers!

This shows that UV radiation does not cause cancer; in fact, it can even prevent it. It is ultraviolet, not ‘ultraviolent’ radiation.

The human body has a unique ability to become accustomed to all kinds of variations in the environment. In other words human beings are capable of ‘adaptation’. It is the process whereby an organism becomes better suited to its habitat. It is a characteristic that is vital to the survival of the organism.

That humans are phenomenal exponents of successful adaptation is obvious by the simple fact that while human settlements survive in the Sahara, Eskimos survive in their igloos too despite the absolute contrast in environment.

Although human beings have broadly been classified under five different races based on their different geographical locations, these races are all able to interbreed: we still fall under the same species. It is our adaptability has made us the most successful and dominant species on the planet. Our bodies show several kinds of adaptations to varying temperatures, pressures, humidity, sunlight, etc. For instance, humans show very characteristic thermal adaptations i.e. structural or physiological variations in the body depending on hot/cold environments.

Extreme cold favors short, round persons with short arms and legs, flat faces with fat pads over the sinuses, narrow noses, and a heavier-than-average layer of body fat. These adaptations provide minimum surface area in relation to body mass for minimum heat loss, minimum heat loss in the extremities (which allows manual dexterity during exposure to cold and guards against frostbite), and protection of the lungs and base of the brain against cold air in the nasal passages.

Moderate cold favors the tall, stocky individual with moderate body fat and a narrow nose, for similar reasons.

‘Night’ cold - often part of a desert environment, where inhabitants must be able to withstand hot, dry daytime conditions as well as cold at night, favors increased metabolic activity to warm the body during sleep.

In hot climates the problem is not in maintaining body heat but in dissipating it. Ordinarily the body rids itself of excess heat by sweating. 

In conditions of humid heat, however, the humidity of the surrounding air prevents the evaporation of perspiration to some extent, and overheating may result. Hence, the heat-adapted person in humid climates is characteristically tall and thin, so that he has maximum surface area for heat radiation. He has little body fat; often a wide nose, since warming of the air in the nasal passages is not desirable; and usually dark skin, which shields him from excess solar radiation and may serve to lower his sweating threshold.

The desert-adapted person can sweat freely but must deal with the water loss involved; hence, he is usually thin but not tall. This adaptation minimizes both water needs and water loss. Skin pigmentation is moderate since extreme pigmentation is good protection from the sun but allows absorption of heat, which must be lost by sweating. Adaptation to night cold is also common in desert-adapted people.

The body is equipped with perfect self-regulating mechanisms that protect it against damage from the harshness of certain natural elements.

Overexposure to swimming in the sea or in a lake can lead to extensive skin swelling, shivering, and circulatory problems. Our body will let us know when it is time to get out of the water.

Getting too close to a fire will heat us up and encourage us to move away from it.

Rainwater is natural, but standing in the rain for too long can drain our immune system and make us susceptible to catching a cold.

Eating sustains our lives, but overeating can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Sleeping ‘recharges our batteries’ and revitalizes the body and mind, yet too much of it makes us sluggish, depressed, and ill.

Likewise, sunlight has healing properties unless we use it to burn holes into our skin. Why should any of these natural elements or processes cause us harm unless we abuse or overuse them?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to say that a preference for unnatural things like junk food, stimulants, alcohol, drugs, medical intervention (unless it is for an emergency), as well as pollution, irregular sleeping and eating habits, stress, excessive greed for money and power, and the lack of contact with nature are more likely to cause such diseases as skin cancer and cataracts than the very natural phenomena that have ensured continued growth and evolution on the planet throughout the ages?

It is illogical to say that the same forces that have preserved life and provided for its propagation are the ones that threaten our lives today.

It is very encouraging to see that new treatments using light are increasingly being recognized as breakthrough methods for cancer and many other diseases. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved ‘light therapy’ to fight advanced esophageal cancer and early lung cancer -with fewer risks than are found with the use of surgery and chemotherapy. Although it has been known for over 100 years that light can kill diseased cells, it is only since a number of convincing research studies have been conducted that there has been a sudden resurgence of interest in light therapy.

There is promising success with bladder cancer, infertility-causing endometriosis, advanced lung and esophageal cancers, skin cancer, and diseases leading to blindness, psoriasis, and autoimmune disorders.

There is a new study that recommends UVB as protective to a total of 16 types of cancer, primarily epithelial cancers of the digestive and reproductive systems.

Six types of cancer (breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal, ovarian, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) were inversely correlated to solar UVB radiation and rural residence in combination. This result strongly suggests that living in an urban environment is associated with reduced UVB exposure compared to living in a rural environment.

Another 10 types of cancer including bladder, gallbladder, gastric, pancreatic, prostate, rectal and renal were inversely correlated with UVB but not urban residence. Ten types of cancer were significantly correlated with smoking, six types with alcohol, and seven types with Hispanic heritage. Poverty status was inversely correlated with seven types of cancer.

Scientists at Newcastle University have developed a cancer fighting technology which uses UV light to activate antibodies which very specifically attack tumors. They have developed a procedure to cloak antibodies which can then be activated by UVA light and so can be targeted to a specific area of the body just by shining a probe at the relevant part. This procedure maximizes the destruction of the tumor while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.

The Newcastle University researchers demonstrate in the first paper the procedure of coating the surface of a protein, such as an antibody, with an organic oil which is photo-cleavable, a process called ‘cloaking’. This prevents the antibody reacting within the body unless it is illuminated. When UVA light is shone onto the cloaked antibody, it is activated. The activated antibody binds to T-cells, the body’s own defense system, triggering the T-cells to target the surrounding tissue.

When the cloaked antibodies are activated by light near a tumor, the tumor is killed. This work means that antibodies can be targeted to kill cancer tumors with much greater specificity giving fewer side effects.

These cloaked antibodies can be used alone, or in conjunction with the many antibodies already produced against a wide variety of cancers as bi-specific complexes. These complexes are formed from two antibodies, one antibody binds to a tumor marker, and the other with a T-cell. The T-cell binding end remains inactive until re-activated by light. This means when the bi-specific antibody binds to healthy tissues away from light, it cannot activate T-cells, resulting in far fewer side effects.

A study of rates of the disease in over 100 countries, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health suggests that lack of sunlight may increase the risk of lung cancer.

The researchers looked at the association between latitude, exposure to ultraviolet B (UV light, and rates of lung cancer according to age in 111 countries across several continents.

They took account of the amount of cloud cover and aerosol use, both of which absorb UVB light, and cigarette smoking, the primary cause of lung cancer. International databases, including those of the World Health Organization, and national health statistics were used.

Smoking was most strongly associated with lung cancer rates, accounting for between 75% and 85% of the cases.

But exposure to sunlight, especially UVB light, the principal source of vitamin D for the body, also seemed to have an impact.

The amount of UVB light increases with proximity to the equator as has been explained earlier in the chapter. The analyses showed that lung cancer rates were highest in those countries furthest away from the equator and lowest in those nearest.

Higher cloud cover and airborne aerosol levels were also associated with higher rates of the disease.

In men, the prevalence of smoking was associated with higher lung cancer rates, while greater exposure to UVB light was associated with lower rates.

Among women, cigarette smoking, total cloud cover, and airborne aerosols were associated with higher rates of lung cancer, while greater exposure to UVB light was associated with lower rates.

In one study, light therapy eliminated 79 percent of early lung cancers.

A similar study has been conducted determine a relationship between UV exposure and the occurrence of multiple sclerosis.

There is considerable variation in the occurrence of MS around the world which has been ascribed to environmental factors, like exposure to viruses or to genetic factors. One constant, though, is that prevalence rates are higher in places closer to the poles compared to places closer to the equator. For instance, in the United States the prevalence is about twice as high in North Dakota than in Florida.

In a recently published exploratory study, mortality from multiple sclerosis (MS) was found to be reduced by exposure to sunlight. Depending on the degree of sunlight exposure, the risk of death from MS was reduced by up to 76%.

Regular exposure to sunlight still seems to be one of the best measures one can take to prevent cancer, including cancers of the skin.

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This is an excerpt from my book HEAL YOURSELF WITH SUNLIGHT, available on http://www.ener-chi.com/book.htm