SKIN CANCER-KANSAS
Kan. has higher than average skin cancer rate
(Information in the following story is from: The Hutchinson (Kan.) News, http://www.hutchnews.com)
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) – As a state with a large number of outdoor workers, Kansas has a problem with skin cancer.
The Hutchinson News reports that a 2009 study by the Center for Disease Control shows that more than a million people in the United States have been diagnosed with skin cancer. That makes it the most common cancer.
Kansas has 9 percent more new melanoma cases than the national average. About 80 Kansans die from skin cancer every year.
Bill Heer has had several suspicious spots removed from his arms, including a few that were pre-melanoma skin cancer. The former head agronomist at Kansas State’s South-Central Kansas Research Field recalls burning often while growing up on a farm in the 1950s and 1960s.
Experts say those early burns put people at risk.
