BOOMERS ‘BLASE’

Despite targeted campaigns and the fact they’re the most likely generation to be diagnosed with melanoma, Kiwi boomers aren’t getting the message on sun safety, writes

WNHEN 66-year-old Mike Bourke gets dragged to the beach he scans the sand for red bodies.

He’s part of a generational club and wonders who here will be the next member. Will it be the child building a sandcastle without a hat, or the woman laid out on the red mat, oiled up and waiting for that crisp, golden, tan?

Bourke cringes. The melanoma club should be a group no-one wants to join, so why do they risk it?

The Fonterra worker was diagnosed with melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer, five years ago. It presented as a skin tag on the top of his scalp, the size of a 20-cent piece, that would sometimes bleed.

He thought nothing of it but his wife and friends noticed and bugged him to get it checked. The specialist doctor thought the lump looked suspicious so it was decided that a surgeon would remove it and send it away to be tested.

The results came about three months later.

‘‘I liked to surf a lot down in Whanganui, go hunting in the bush, and I never wore sunscreen. That’s how it all happened, I think. That’s how I got melanoma..

‘‘When I see people down the beach not covered up and no hat it makes me cringe. There’s still that level of complacency – people like to tan, and so did I.’’

There’s a lot of messaging out there to protect yourself from the sun – for example, Australia’s 1980s ‘‘Slip Slop Slap’’ campaign still resonates on our shores today – but people have become ‘‘ho-hum’’ about the messaging, Bourke says. ‘‘Unless you know somebody with melanoma, you don’t care.’’

While Bourke is no longer so ho-hum about his own sun safety, experts agree his generation are less likely to get the message about skin care and sun safety and are less careful about melanoma prevention than their younger counterparts. ew Zealand’s melanoma rate is the worst in the world and the stats make for worrying reading. Of the 82,000 New Zealanders getting skin cancer every year, around 4000 people will have the most serious type – melanoma.

About six people are diagnosed every day, and those most at risk are New Zealanders aged 50 and over. Around 300 Kiwis will die from melanoma every year and it accounts for 80 per cent of all skin cancer deaths. It’s considered serious because of how quickly it progresses, spreading to other areas of the body. Men are twice as likely to die from melanoma than women.

But despite the numbers, the message isn’t getting through. This week Australia, the third worst culprit for melanoma, issued a plea to Australia Day holidaymakers to cover up and use sunscreen after a report showed hundreds of people, including many infants, were admitted to emergency rooms this time last year for severe sunburn.

And although the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported melanoma numbers in younger generations – aged 15 to 44 – had dropped, those 50 and over continued to make up 70 per cent of diagnoses in the US.

The figures here are similar, with experts saying they’re hoping the downwards trend of young people getting skin cancer might herald the slow decline of New Zealand’s shocking melanoma stats.

Specialist dermatologist Dr Amanda Oakley says prevention messages have to be targeted to be effective, especially as one of the target groups – the over 50s – are ‘‘very blase about it all’’.

Her research showed the risks increased because many of the baby boomer generation tended to be fair-skinned, and sunbathing and working outdoors had been prevalent for young adults in the 1960s and 1970s.

One of the main reasons for the increase in melanoma cases was our ageing population and the rise in the incidence in melanoma with age, particularly over 60.

‘‘There isn’t much spent on prevention, so you have to look at where you get the biggest bang for your small buck,’’ she says.

‘‘Do you target mothers of young children or do you target old men? Mothers of young children are keen to protect their children from danger but they may not know the danger of exposure to ultra-violet