Bostonians to Get Shade, Sunscreen and Education

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm · Blog

Bostonians to Get Shade, Sunscreen and Education to Fight Skin Cancer as Boston Becomes a Model SunWise Community

Shonda Schilling stands with EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and Boston Mayor Thomas MeninoBoston, Mass. — On Earth Day, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen Johnson joined Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and SHADE Foundation of America founder Shonda Schilling to rec­og­nize Boston as a SunWise Community.

Mayor Menino pro­claimed April 22, “SunWise Day” in Boston and pledged to work with SHADE and EPA through­out the year to pro­vide shade, sun­screen, and a qual­ity SunWise edu­ca­tion to the city’s youth and families.

“Boston is lead­ing by exam­ple, and Mayor Menino’s SunWise City announce­ment only adds to the city’s green rep­u­ta­tion,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “By plant­ing trees and edu­cat­ing the pub­lic about the dan­gers of sun expo­sure, Boston is show­ing its com­mit­ment to the health of its envi­ron­ment and residents.”

“Being SunWise is impor­tant since skin can­cer affects every­one, espe­cially in Boston where we have large youth and elderly pop­u­la­tions,” said Boston Mayor Menino, a can­cer sur­vivor. “That’s why the city has com­mit­ted to edu­cat­ing our chil­dren about pro­tect­ing them­selves from the sun and have begun our plans to plant 100,000 trees by 2020. In addi­tion to pro­vid­ing shade for city res­i­dents and vis­i­tors alike, these trees will help keep our city cooler dur­ing the sum­mer months, reduc­ing air con­di­tion­ing costs, and absorb­ing more car­bon dioxide.”

“I applaud the Mayor’s efforts,” said Shonda Schilling, founder of the SHADE Foundation of America. “Teaching sun safety to chil­dren and their fam­i­lies is cru­cial because nearly half of all new can­cers diag­nosed in the United States each year are skin can­cers. Skin can­cer can be pre­vented by tak­ing sim­ple pre­cau­tions like wear­ing sun­screen, a hat and sun­glasses, and seek­ing shade.”

Since over­ex­po­sure to UV radi­a­tion affects peo­ple of all racial and eth­nic groups in the form of skin can­cer, cataracts and other eye dam­age, pre­ma­ture aging and wrin­kling of the skin, and immune sys­tem sup­pres­sion, Boston’s sta­tus as a national leader in work to elim­i­nate racial and eth­nic dis­par­i­ties in health makes the city a per­fect fit for a SunWise Community. In 2004, Massachusetts had the 8th high­est melanoma inci­dence rate in the coun­try; 25 per­cent higher than the national aver­age. This year, the American Cancer Society esti­mates that 62,480 U.S. men and women will be diag­nosed with melanoma, the dead­liest form of skin can­cer, and 1,810 of these cases are expected to occur in Massachusetts alone.

To help the city pro­mote sun safety, SHADE is donat­ing 100 trees, 10 shade struc­tures and sun­screen, and EPA’s SunWise Program is pro­vid­ing free edu­ca­tional activ­ity kits and train­ing to city edu­ca­tors and com­mu­nity workers.

In addi­tion to the procla­ma­tion, the Swingset Mamas were on hand to per­form their hit song “Sunscreen Dance,” trees donated by the SHADE Foundation were planted, skin can­cer pre­ven­tion infor­ma­tion and sun­screen were dis­trib­uted, posters sub­mit­ted to the annual Limit the Sun, Not the Fun national poster con­test spon­sored by SHADE, EPA and WeatherBug were on dis­play, and fun SunWise activ­i­ties were held for local children.

SHADE Foundation of America, founded by Shonda Schilling, is ded­i­cated to the erad­i­ca­tion of melanoma through the edu­ca­tion of chil­dren and the com­mu­nity in the pre­ven­tion and detec­tion of skin can­cer and the pro­mo­tion of sun safety.

SunWise is an envi­ron­men­tal and health edu­ca­tion pro­gram that teaches chil­dren and their care­givers how to pro­tect them­selves from over­ex­po­sure to the sun through the use of classroom-, school– and community-based com­po­nents. Through SunWise Communities, EPA works with state and local gov­ern­ments to incor­po­rate sup­port for sun-safe prac­tices at mul­ti­ple lev­els of the com­mu­nity. This year, SunWise is work­ing with the city of Boston, Cobb County, GA and the state of Washington to raise aware­ness about the need for sun pro­tec­tion in all regions of the country.

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