skin cancer in tribal communities

[ringo]

I keep hearing about how we need to cover ourselves up. That the sun is destroying our skin and causing cancer. I can't help but wonder, is it like this for tribal communities where they live out in the hot sun with very little clothes? Like.... say... African tribes or something like that. They are out there in the desert with nothing but little loin clothes and I am dying to know... do they get skin cancer all the time? Do they have a high rate of death from skin cancer? I don't suspect that they do. So what's the difference? Is it because their skin is so dark? Is there resistance in their genes?

That then leads me to wonder how skin cancer compares in Americans with dark skin versus light skin? Are the ratios the same? Or are light skinned people more likely to get skin cancer?

If it turns out that Americans have a much higher rate of skin cancer then tribal communities in hot climates, I would question if it's not the sun, but something else?? What's the big difference? I would say it has to be the amount of stuff we make to put on our skin. We are always putting on lotions, ointments, creams, and using things like shower/bath soaps and we are probably washing in partially polluted water. Clearly there is no way water processing plants completely remove everything. So could it be true that what we are putting on our skin is the real reason for the increase in skin cancer? Or what if it has something to do with the water we drink and the food we eat?

In countries with big chemical processing factories, their rate of cancer is much higher. So who is to say it's not the sun that's killing us? Think about that!