What effect do unfiltered ultraviolet rays have on DNA?
They knock codons off your DNA. Many codons are non-essential, so knocking one or two off the strand will have no effect on your cell’s day-to-day functions. However, if an essential codon is knocked off or otherwise damaged, the cell will operate according to incorrect instructions. (For instance, making skin in the middle of your liver, a.k.a. a tumor.) The “stop” codon is particularly liable to be knocked off, and if this happens, the cell will go haywire, making proteins nonstop and flooding your system. If your immune system destroys the damaged cell, all may yet be well. But if the cell divides and multiplies, then you will have many cells creating tumors and flooding your body with the wrong chemicals at the wrong time. This is the disease we call cancer.
