An article by Christie Ashwanden in the New York Times Science & Health section this week covers the reaction of some doctors to the American Cancer Society's advertisements running in 15 women's magazines this summer.

The woman in the advertisement holds up a picture of a smiling blonde while the text reads, "My sister accidentally killed herself. She died of skin cancer." The ads are financed by sunscreen manufacturer Neutrogena and warns that "left unchecked, skin cancer can be fatal," while encouraging them to use sunscreen and watch their skin.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, but most of the deaths attributed to skin cancer are from melanoma, which only make up 6 percent of skin-cancer cases. According to the article, the link between melanoma and sun exposure is not straightforward and there is currently a large-scale study in motion to further explore this link.

Accordingly, many doctors say it is too early to suggest that people are endangering their lives by not using sunscreen. "It's just not that simple," said Dr. Barry Kramer, associate director for disease prevention at the National Institute of Health. Dr. Kramer adds that while we do have evidence that sunscreen will reduce the risk of other forms of skin cancer, there is little evidence that sunscreens will protect you against melanoma.

The financial motives of Neutrogena in paying for these ads (although it's name is not mentioned in the advertisement) further complicates the debate.

Dr. J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society on the ads' aggressive nature, "We have taken some license in taking that message and using it the way we've used it because that's the way to get the message to our target audience."

Regarding research the ACS did with focus groups, they learned that "To get the message through to me, you have to shock me and get my attention."