Opinion
4A
Thursday, June 10, 2021
OUR VIEW
A new way
to learn
about state
politics
O
regon’s political life bursts with con-
fl ict. But the state will be in trouble if
the political life is not anchored in a
way that serves and represents all the people
who live here.
The state is an intricate mix of strong,
rural, conservative traditions in many areas
and what seems to be a growing dominance
of a more progressive movement. National
political events can also transfi gure the local.
We probably all are guilty of falling into
comfortable patterns of what we read or
follow about Oregon politics. And maybe we
don’t seek out enough views that challenge
our own.
We urge you to check out a new pod-
cast called “The Oregon Bridge.” It’s put out
by Ben Bowman and Alex Titus. They are
friends. They often disagree. Bowman is a
progressive, serves on the Tigard-Tualatin
School Board and ran for state Senate. Titus
is a conservative and worked as an adviser in
the Trump administration.
Every two weeks or so they have been
interviewing someone new, primarily in Ore-
gon’s political scene. They interviewed state
Rep. Wlnsvey Campos, D-Aloha, a progres-
sive endorsed by Bernie Sanders in one epi-
sode. In the next they interviewed Alex Skar-
latos, the conservative who came about as
close as anyone has to defeating Rep. Peter
DeFazio. You may remember Skarlatos as
the soldier, who with others, helped to stop a
gunman on a train to Paris. They also inter-
viewed Kevin Frazier, a law student from
Oregon who submits columns to EO Media
Group. Frazier hosts a blog, called The
Oregon Way, which is a forum for political
commentary.
The podcast isn’t political mud wrestling.
It’s not people yelling at each other. They are
thoughtful discussions. If you are looking for
a way to enhance and broaden your under-
standing of Oregon politics, check out The
Oregon Bridge. You can fi nd it on Apple Pod-
casts and many other places.
EDITORIALS
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opinion of The Observer editorial
board. Other columns, letters and
cartoons on this page express the
opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of The Observer.
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Regular, moderate sun exposure is the goal
JOHN
WINTERS
HEALTH CARE ESSENTIALS
I
asked the man strolling on the
beach why he was wearing a life
jacket. Trying to be patient, he
explained, “My goodness, don’t you
know the ocean is dangerous? Mil-
lions drown every year.”
He’s right. The ocean can be a
very dangerous place and requires
great respect. I encouraged him to
learn a little about the actual risks of
certain activities so he wouldn’t feel
so threatened. Understanding and
respect are diff erent than blind fear.
This analogy also applies to our atti-
tudes toward the sun.
We often hear, “Avoid the sun’s
harmful rays,” “stay inside,” “protect
yourself against the sun’s damaging
rays.” Is our sun really out to get us,
or is there more to the story?
These warnings have some truth
to them, but they are also incom-
plete. The ocean sustains life on this
planet, yet can kill you depending on
your actions. You can learn to swim,
fi sh or skipper a boat. You can safely
row across the Atlantic given ade-
quate preparation. Similarly, you can
safely enjoy the sun’s benefi ts while
minimizing risk. The man on the
beach probably doesn’t need to wear
a life jacket, and we probably don’t
need to hide from the sun.
According to my research, the
sun and the human race have hap-
pily coexisted for a — really really
— long time. I googled it. Sunshine
is both life-giving and potentially
dangerous. Our skin does have built
in protections, but these take time
to deploy. Human groups who have
lived near the equator for eons are
born with ample protective melanin
in their skin. Others who hail from
the north don’t need so much protec-
tion and are lighter in color.
For us northerners everything
is dandy, until you move south or
take a tropical vacation. The sudden
increase in the sun’s intensity causes
problems.
Sunlight off ers myriad types of
light essential to life. Humans see
only a small portion of the spec-
trum. Outside what we see are
energy waves that warm us, help
plants grow and improve our health.
Yes that’s right, the sun’s “damaging
ultraviolet rays” are also healthy.
So, how do we get the healthy
part while minimizing the harmful
part?
We require UV light to synthe-
size vitamin D. Vitamin D is note-
worthy because it helps prevent
skin cancer and has many other
important properties. Optimal levels
of vitamin D help prevent 17 types
of cancer, hypertension and other
cardiovacular diseases, diabetes,
autoimmune diseases and infl uenza,
including COVID-19. Optimal levels
of vitamin D also improve moods,
immune function in many ways
and infl ammation. That’s all very
important.
Dr. Cedric Garland, an epide-
miologist known for his research
in the fi eld of vitamin D defi ciency,
calculates that adequate vitamin D
levels would prevent 600,000 cases
of breast and colorectal cancer every
year. Dr. William Grant, a NASA
atmospheric physicist, was one of
the fi rst to recognize vitamin D’s
protective benefi ts. He believes more
than 50,000 American lives would
be spared yearly, 30% of cancer
deaths would be prevented, and can-
cers of the skin, prostate and lung
would be halved.
The Journal of Investigative Der-
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matology found that sun exposure
has an inverse relationship to mel-
anoma risk, by far the most deadly
skin cancer. Surprisingly, offi ce
workers have much more melanoma
than outdoor workers.
Experts point out that skin
cancer rates are rising the past 50
years, about the time we started
hiding from the sun and using sun-
screen. They point out: “If sunscreen
worked we would see less skin
cancer, but instead we are seeing
more.” Trustworthy sources such
as The Lancet, The British Journal
of Dermatology and the Cochrane
Collaboration fi nd that sunscreen
use doesn’t reduce deaths from skin
cancer.
The relationship between skin
cancer and sunshine doesn’t fi t into
a one sentence soundbite. You don’t
need to fear the sun, or the ocean —
but there certainly are times for pre-
caution. There are three main types
of skin cancer — basal cell carci-
noma, squamous cell carcinoma
and malignant melanoma. BCC and
SCC account for about 99% of skin
cancer cases, and are important to
treat but rarely cause death. Mel-
anoma accounts for about 1% of
cases but causes 75% of skin cancer
deaths. Optimal vitamin D levels
protect against melanoma in many
ways. The key is to get plenty of
vitamin D but not too much sun.
Your overall health requires
mindful sun exposure. Hiding from
the sun or burning can each cause
problems. Like water, the sun is
essential to life, yet too much is dan-
gerous. Regular, moderate sun expo-
sure is the goal.
———
John Winters is a naturopathic
physician, who recently retired after
operating a practice in La Grande
since 1992.
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