The dark side of the sun: Skin cancer, sunscreen, and risk in twentieth-century America

This dissertation examines American attitudes toward sunlight and health over the course of the twentieth century. During this time, growing fears about the carcinogenic potential of sunlight challenged and eventually eclipsed early-century views of the sun as a benevolent source of the "healthy tan." The sun care product industry, with an obvious interest in these changing ideas, followed a similar historical trajectory. Originally created, conceptualized, and advertised as cosmetic suntan lotions, by the end of the century SPF-calibrated, physician- and government-endorsed, cancer preventing sunscreens dominated the market. The history of American ideas about sunscreen and skin cancer demonstrates the influence of medical science, government, business, advertising, and societal beliefs about the responsibility for health in creating both a medical risk factor and a recommended preventive strategy. This case study highlights the ambiguity and uncertainty inherent in evaluating potential health risks, and the negotiations through which such dangers are identified, understood, and confronted.