Reports of the death of sun protection have been greatly exaggerated.

In the past two years, dermatologists and health groups such as The Skin Cancer Foundation have been soul-searching about their core messages concerning sun protection. The reasons: recent reports that some Americans suffer from vitamin D deficiency, and that vitamin D produced in the body by solar ultraviolet (UV) exposure may help prevent prostate, colon, breast, and other cancers, as well as bone diseases.

In Woody Allen’s classic “Annie Hall,” Alvy Singer laments, “Everything our parents said was good is bad.” He lists whole milk and red meat as two offenders.

Some 7,770 Americans will be killed this year by melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer. Over 5,000 of them will be men. In fact, men over age 50 are twice as likely as women to develop and die from skin cancer. Shockingly, between 1969 and 1999, melanoma mortality rates rose 66 percent in men aged 45-64.

The case against indoor tanning just became stronger on a global scale. The United Nations’ respected international health agency, The World Health Organization (WHO), has issued an official statement calling for nations everywhere to ban sunbed use for individuals under age 18, and to impose more stringent regulations restricting tanning machine use for people of all ages.