Letter first published in the Shepparton News 25/11/11

With summer upon us, it’s time to get serious about skin cancer prevention. While SunSmart has done well to promote sun safety messages to adults, we know image-conscious teens are still in danger.

A survey released by Cancer Council Victoria today (24 November) shows almost two-thirds of young men and half of young women aged 12 to 17-years-old believe their risk of skin cancer is low.

Last summer, two in three Victorian girls said they liked to get a tan, compared with two in five boys. And only one in four in this age group said they used more than two sun protection measures.

Skin cancer is serious. It kills more Victorians every year than traffic accidents. This year, more than 40,000 cases will be diagnosed.

Parents need to have a serious sun safety talk with their kids this summer, just like they would about the dangers of alcohol. Childhood and adolescence are crucial periods for sun protection. Every additional decade of high sun exposure or solarium use increases the risk of melanoma.

Powerful UV rays are a fact of life in Australia and we need to get the message out that tanning is not attractive – it’s actually a sign of skin cells in trauma. The real tragedy is that skin cancer is entirely preventable, with a little knowledge and a lot of common sense.


Brian Vandenberg
Program Manager, UV Protection
VicHealth (Victorian Health Promotion Foundation)
Carlton