A new report of the World Health Organization shows that about 60,000 persons die yearly all around the world due to prolonged and careless sunbaths. Exposure to UV radiation causes malignant or other types of skin cancer. The same report finds that 48,000 of these deaths occur as a consequence of malignant/ melanoma skin cancer, while the other 12,000 are caused by skin carcinomas.

Solar energy is widely acknowledged as the main source that causes the production and synthesis of vitamin D within our bodies. Exposure to sun rays helps our body to maintain the required levels of vitamin D, without which we can get to suffer from bone diseases and other disorders. However, WHO officials have announced that minimal sun exposure should be sufficient for one to recharge his body with the needed levels of the beneficial vitamin.

Most skin cancer is produced by UV (ultraviolet) rays that can cause two types of cancer: malignant melanoma, that most usually lead to death, and non-melanoma skin cancer, which is not that dangerous for our lives, but it is nevertheless slow-growing within our epidermis. The most likely to get skin cancer are the fair-skinned people that also get burned when over-exposing to the sun.

Excess sunbathing may also lead to weakening our immune system and other disorders of the skin besides cancer: lupus vulgaris (tuberculosis of the skin), psoriasis or vitiligo (a discontinuous depigmentation of the skin.)

Besides skin disorders, sun rays radiation can also lead to other health impairments and serious conditions, mentioned on the WHO official page. Out of these, the most serious relate to eyes and vision diseases: photokeratitis (inflammation of the cornea), photoconjunctivitis (inflammation of the conjunctiva), pterygium (growth of the conjunctiva on the surface of the eye), cataracts (the main cause for blindness) etc.

"We all need some sun, but too much sun can be dangerous - and even deadly. Fortunately, diseases from UV such as malignant melanomas, other skin cancers and cataracts are almost entirely preventable through simple protective measures," stated Dr. Maria Neira, Director for Public Health and the Environment at WHO.