Black by Choice?

[Sean David Moore]

I really don't know where the idea of "turning white " to avoid the sun 
came about.  As I recall, the modern theory is that as certain 
populations of people moved farther north, they got much less exposure to 
the sun..and that coused a severe Vitamin D deficiency.  As our elders 
from Canada and other northern countries can tell us, before Vitamin D 
fortified milk, poeple died from lack of Vit. D.  
	It is unlikely that skin cancer was the cause of an evolutionary 
change in the skin color of homo sapiens.  At the time tribes moved to 
the north, I severely doubt skin cancer was having a major effect on 
population or longevity...most hunter-gatherers died from the plain-old 
wilderness or at the ripe "old-age" of 40 or so.
	Yes, there is research being done on artificially inducing 
melanin production in people who are either pre-disposed to skin cancer, 
or who want the tan without the sun and time.

 --
Sean Moore

VAMC Philadelphia,
Medical College of Pennsylvania,
and the University of Pennsylvania...

.

smoore at sas.upenn.edu