Eduardo García-Ramos of the Canarian Health Service has warned everyone on the Canary Islands to take sun exposure seriously, as UV levels reach their highest levels of the year.
On Lanzarote at the moment UV levels are around 11, occasionally rising to 12. Both levels are described as “extreme risk”.
The Health Service recommendations for levels up to 10 include wearing a hat, sunglasses, and long-sleeved shirts and trousers; using sunblock of at least 30 SPF, and not exposing children under the age of three to the sun at all.
At “extreme” levels such as those this week, the general recommendation is not to expose yourself to the sun if possible. Skin cancers have increased by 40% on the Canaries in the last four years.
The Las Palmas College of Pharmacists is also launching a sun awareness campaign which will tackle “outrageous misinformation and nonsense” about sun exposure on social media. Unscientific claims that younger people do not require sun protection, or that long exposure is required to activate Vitamin D, are being spread by people with many followers, the college claims.
