BodyLab Podcast - Australia's population diversity may be helping to save our skin

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QIMR Berghofer researchers have found that declining melanoma rates among young Australians have been influenced by the country's increasingly diverse population and more varied skin tones.

New research from Professor David Whiteman has found almost 30% of young Australians now have a low to moderate risk of melanoma because of their ancestry and darker skin tones.

While public health campaigns like the "Slip! Slop! Slap!" ads of the 1980s have been credited with reducing melanoma rates, the study led by Professor Whiteman, who has spent the past 30 years researching skin cancer, suggests that demographic changes have also been a significant factor.

00:00 BodyLab podcast, skin cancer with QIMR Berghofer Distinguished Scientist David Whiteman with Clare Blake
00:52 Drop in melanoma rates Australia
02:55 How much impact did slip, slop, slap have on reducing skin cancer in Australia?
04:43 Using national population data to find out why Australia's melanoma rates are falling
06:42 Migration has contributed to lower melanoma rates in Australia
06:50 Has a change in behaviour impacted melanoma rates?
07:05 Rates of melanoma in young people have fallen slightly
10:12 It's important to keep up sun protection because skin cancer is still killing Australians every year
10:29 Is there a difference between the sexes and cases of melanoma
12:10 Sun baking and the impacts for the future of DNA damage
15:10 Does darker skin mean no risk or low risk?