 Special Feature
Get Sun Savvy -- Be SunWise!
How Can Too Much Sun Harm You?
Its fun to play in the sun, but did you know that too much sun can be dangerous?
If youve ever had a painful sunburn, youve experienced one of the harmful
effects of overexposure to the suns ULTRAVIOLET (UV) RADIATION. In addition to causing premature and excessive wrinkling of the skin, overexposure to UV can cause more serious health effects, too, such as skin cancer and eye damage, including cataracts.
Young people are particularly at risk of overexposure, since most of the average persons lifetime exposure happens before the age of 18.
The good news is that UV-related health effects are largely preventable by establishing sun protection habits while youre young and staying sun-safe throughout your life.
Why Is Being SunWise Even More Important Now Than When Your Parents Were Your Age?
To answer this question, you need to know a little about the earths environment.
The OZONE layer is a thin shield in the atmosphere that protects us from the sun. It wraps all the way around the Earth, and can be found about 10 to 30 miles straight up.
From the beginning of time, the OZONE layer has blocked much of the suns dangerous UV rays from reaching us, and it continues to keep UV RADIATION from harming life on the planet.
The ozone layers big enemy is CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS, or CFCs. CFCs are chemicals humans invented and use in things like refrigerators and air conditioners. CFCs only become harmful when they leak into the air. The CHLORINE in CFCs eats away at the ozone layer. As the OZONE layer gets thinner, more and more harmful UV RAYS reach the Earths surface. Thats not only bad for humans, but also for plants and animals. It can cause a chain reaction among many things that live and breathe in the oceans or on land; if tiny fish and plants that are on the bottom of the food chain are destroyed or damaged by the UV RAYS, bigger fish and animals that rely on these smaller things for food could starve and die, too.
Humans are taking steps to reduce the amount of CFCs that leaks into the atmosphere. This should help repair the ozone layer, but unfortunately that could take years. In the meantime, the OZONE LAYER is thinner, and more harmful UV RAYS are reaching you than when your parents were your age.
Special thanks to the EPA for providing this information on sun safety and the SunWise program.
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