Darkly pigmented, eumelanin-rich skin protects against DNA damage caused by the sunlight.[37] This is associated with lower skin cancer rates among dark-skinned populations.[38][39][40][41][42] The presence of pheomelanin in light skin increases the oxidative stress in melanocytes, and this combined with the limited ability of pheomelanin to absorb UVR contributes to higher skin cancer rates among light-skinned individuals.[43] The damaging effect of UVR on DNA structure and the entailing elevated skin cancer risk is widely recognized.[8][44][45][46][47] However, these cancer types usually affect people at the end or after their reproductive career and could have not been the evolutionary reason behind the development of dark skin pigmentation.[24][13] Of all the major skin cancer types, only malignant melanoma have a major effect in a person's reproductive age.