Preventing Skin Cancer: Educating the Public on National Sun Safety Day

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in partnership with the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention requests a session entitled “Preventing Skin Cancer: Educating the Public on National Sun Safety Day.” National Sun Safety Day is designed to raise awareness about the importance of sun protection immediately before the unofficial start of summer—Memorial Day weekend.

This session will focus on improving broadcast meteorologists' ability to serve as “The Station Scientist.” The themes of the session will be:

- An overview of stratospheric ozone layer depletion and its connection to public health;

- Highlights from the first-ever National Sun Safety Day in 2009; and

- Ways to get involved in National Sun Safety Day 2010.

The session will include time for questions and discussion of ways to make participating in National Sun Safety Day easier and more effective.

Background:

EPA is involved in skin cancer prevention and sun safety education through its stratospheric ozone protection program. As most broadcast meteorologists know through their increasingly common role as “The Station Scientist”, the ozone layer forms a thin shield in the upper atmosphere, protecting life on Earth from the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays. In the 1980s, scientists began accumulating evidence that the ozone layer was being depleted. A sustained depletion of the ozone layer results in increased UV radiation reaching the Earth's surface. Overexposure to UV radiation can in turn lead to serious health effects, such as skin cancer, cataracts, and immune suppression.