Skin cancer cases set to at least double, public health body warns
The Dutch public health institute RIVM said on Thursday it expects the number of people with some form of skin cancer to at least double over the next 20 years.
In the worst case scenario, the number of skin cancer cases could go up by a factor of five, the RIVM said in a warning to holidaymakers to be careful in the sun.
Every year, some 51,000 people are diagnosed with some form of skin cancer in the Netherlands. Of them, 5,500 people will be found to have a melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer and some 900 people will die, the RIVM said.
The RIVM said the Netherlands has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in Europe.
The number of cases has quadrupled since 1990 as people who sun bathed without proper protection in the 1960s and 70s develop the disease.
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