With the sunbathing season about to start, experts warned yesterday about the dangers of exposure to the sun’s rays, while noting that Greeks face the lowest risk of skin cancer in Europe.

Heralding the Week Against Skin Cancer in Greece, which begins next Monday, Andreas Katasabas, a professor of dermatology at Athens University, along with several colleagues, warned that sudden exposure to the sun could be worse than constantly being in the sunlight for developing melanoma, which could lead to skin cancer.

They revealed that 2.58 of Greeks per 100,000 developed melanoma in 1998 (the lowest ratio in Europe), compared to 11.48 in Sweden (the highest) and 7.59 in Britain. But doctors said that during last year’s Week Against Skin Cancer in Greece, of some 2,700 people who took the free tests available, 94 displayed signs of melanoma.