Once again, what used to be bad for you is now good.
Who among us, save those with naturally occurring skin protection, hasn’t been warned as a child or adult to avoid overexposure to the sun, the “expert” consensus being that “healthy look” could lead to melanoma? As there have been several upticks in in that unpleasant ailment over the years, overdosing on sun tanning has been cited as one of the causes.
Certainly, those of us in your Tatler’s family had those warnings into drilled into us growing up and though this writer paid them no attention whatsoever, another member of the family heeded the warnings and for years eschewed direct exposure to the sun whenever possible, giving him the pallor of bleached flour and earning him gentle (sort of) ribbing from his siblings.
Now, it turns out, another crop of experts has claimed for several years the opposite of those warnings, that is, under exposure to sunlight is likelier to cause melanoma than over exposure, which to this non-expert makes more sense and of course is especially welcome, given that that Taos gets around 300 days a year of sunshine. (Your Tatler’s person-of-pallor sibling has been alerted to this newish finding and seems pleased to have learned of it.)
Personally, your correspondent believes the best policy, when it comes to matters like these, is to heed the timeless advice of the playwright Plautus (ca. 250-184): Modus omninibus in rebus, moderation in all things.
THE TAOS TATLER. 