Sun Safety Alliance

Reducing the incidence of skin cancer

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Our Mission

What is the Sun Safety Alliance?
The Sun Safety Alliance is a non-profit coalition whose mission is to educate young children and their caregivers about the importance of sun safe behavior over the course of their lifetimes. The Sun Safety Alliance – through education that motivates behavior change– aims to reduce the incidence of skin cancer caused by sun exposure in the U.S. Specifically, its objectives are to:

  • Educate the public about sun care safety, especially children, to prevent skin cancers caused by sun exposure.
  • Encourage adults to protect themselves and their families, especially children, from the dangers of the sun.
  • Enhance the ability of health care providers, including community pharmacists and physicians, to advocate the elimination of skin cancer due to sun exposure.


Why is sun safety education so important?
Skin cancer is at a record high, with more than one million new cases reported each year. It is America’s most prevalent form of cancer and a major public health issue, but has yet to capture public attention. Americans generally have positive associations with the sun, and like to spend time outdoors, and only in recent years have the effects of such lifetime exposure been linked as factors in the escalation of skin cancer rates.
  • Current estimates are that 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.
  • The World Health Organization estimates that as many as 65,161 people a year die worldwide from too much sun, mostly from malignant skin cancer.
  • The American Cancer Society estimates that one American dies of melanoma every hour.
  • Melanoma is the number one cancer for young adults 25-29, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Why focus on children?
Children spend a great deal of time in the sun, getting an average of three times more exposure to the sun’s rays than adults. Since unprotected sun exposure early in life can be life-threatening later, it is critical to form positive sun safety behavioral habits at a young age. A significant reduction in risk of skin cancer will be helped immeasurably if sun safe behaviors are adopted by children and maintained throughout life.

According to a recent study in Oncology Nursing Forum (Vol. 33, no. 2, 2006):
  • More than half of an individuals lifetime exposure to UV (Ultra Violet) rays occurs during childhood and adolescence.
  • If you have one or more blistering sunburns before age 18, you will be twice as likely to develop melanoma later in life.
  • 65-90% of melanomas are caused by UV rays.

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About SSA

We are the Sun Safety Alliance, a non-profit coalition brought to you by the Entertainment and Media Communication Institute’s Center on Skin Cancer Prevention, the research and strategy division of the Entertainment Industries Council, Inc.

We work to educate the public about the importance of sun safe behavior to prevent the incidence of skin cancer.