Kids are sun-smarter
New research shows slip, slop, slap habits
SUN-SMART children are increasingly taking the lead in skin cancer protection and reminding slack parents to slip, slop, slap as new evidence shows the campaign is reducing skin cancer rates.
Thirty-six years after the Cancer Council’s Sid the Seagull launched his sun protection campaign, new research shows the message has changed the habits of young kids and they are more sunconscious than their parents.
A Cancer Council poll has found 95 per cent of Australians agree that kids today do a comprehensively better job at protecting themselves from the sun than the grown-ups did when they were young.
Three-quarters of adults think children these days are better at wearing sunscreen, while 65 per cent said today’s children are more likely to wear protective clothing like rashies and hats. Almost half (49 per cent) of the adults also said that today’s kids are better when it comes to wearing sunglasses or playing in the shade.
It comes as the latest Can- cer Council National Sun Protection Survey shows the proportion of adults slipping on clothing to protect themselves from the sun has fallen from 19 per cent to 17 per cent in the last three years.
In the meantime the proportion of adults who get sunburnt at the weekend hasn’t improved and now sits at 17 per cent – equivalent to more than 2.7 million adults.
“We are calling today’s kids the ‘SunSmart Generation’ – thanks to prevention campaigns they have a greater awareness and understanding about the harmful effects of UV and know what is required to look after their skin,” Cancer Council chief Professor Sanchia Aranda said.
Decades of education are paying dividends with melanoma rates in Australia falling by 1 per cent a year and Australia is no longer the melanoma capital of the world. New Zealand now has higher rates.
The results are even better among 20 to 24-year-olds with the rate of melanoma falling from 25 per 100,000 in 1996 to 14 per 100,000 in 2010 among people aged 20 to 24.