Radiation
Children are in a dynamic state of growth and are more susceptible to environmental threats than adults as:
- sun exposure during childhood and adolescence appears to set the stage for the development of both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers in later life
- a significant part of a person’s lifetime exposure occurs before age 18, and
- children have more time to develop diseases with long latency, more years of life to be lost and more suffering to be endured as a result of impaired health.
Children require special protection. Sun protection programmes are urgently needed to raise awareness of the health hazards of ultraviolet radiation, and to achieve changes in lifestyle that will arrest the trend towards more and more skin cancers. Beyond the health benefits, effective education programmes can strengthen national economies by reducing the financial burden to health care systems caused by skin cancer and cataract treatments.