LITTLETON, CO – JUNE 10: Soaking up the sun at the swim beach at Chatfield State Park in Littleton. ( Photo by Helen H. ichardson/The Denver Post)
Americans can’t seem to take this seriously.
Even though there has been widespread education about sun safety, and skin cancer is mostly preventable, diagnoses and deaths continue to increase.
So much so, the Surgeon General recently outlined a national action plan to re-energize the fight against skin cancer.
Five million people are treated for skin cancer each year at a cost of $8 billion. Sun worshiping is a big public health problem.
So stop sunbathing. Use protection outdoors that include sunscreens, sunglasses and hats. Don’t use indoor tanning beds, the acting U.S. surgeon general, Adm. Boris Lushniak, warned in a released in late July.
“The number of Americans who have had skin cancer at some point in the last three decades is estimated to be higher than the number for all other cancers combined, and skin cancer incidence rates have continued to increase in recent years,” the report states.
Lushniak cited a 200 percent jump in deadly melanoma cases since 1973. Melanoma is responsible for the most deaths of all skin cancers, he said, with nearly 9,000 people dying from it each year. About $3.3 billion of skin cancer treatment costs are attributable to melanoma.
He said state and local officials need to do more to help people shelter from the sun by providing more shade at parks and sporting events.
“The Call to Action focuses on reducing UV exposure, with an emphasis on addressing excessive, avoidable, or unnecessary UV exposures (such as prolonged sun exposure without adequate sun protection) and intentional exposure for the purpose of skin tanning (whether indoors using an artificial UV device or outdoors while sunbathing).”
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