[Enesta Jones] 
Hello and welcome 
to Green Scene. 
I'm Enesta Jones of the 
Office of Public Affairs. 
Summer is here, and people 
across America are spending 
quality time outdoors. 
Before you go outside, however, 
EPA wants to be sure you know  
about sun-safe behaviors 
to prevent skin cancer, 
because the sun's ultraviolet, 
or UV, radiation levels are at 
their peak during this 
time of the year. 
Luke Hall-Jordan, an outreach 
and education specialist 
with EPA's SunWise program, 
is here to tell us why 
we need to protect ourselves 
from our sun's rays, 
how to do it properly, 
and what EPA is doing 
to help people be safer 
in the sun. 
Welcome to the show, Luke. 
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Thanks for having me. 
[Enesta Jones] 
So, Luke, why is sun protection 
so important and what happens 
if we don't protect
ourselves?
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Well, sun protection is 
important for some very 
compelling reasons, mostly 
for your skin's health 
and your eyes' health. 
First, in the short term, it can 
cause a painful sunburn, 
which is never fun. 
In the longer term it can 
lead to premature aging, 
wrinkling of the skin, sunspots, 
not the most attractive. 
Also, it can lead to eye 
damage like cataracts 
and macular degeneration. 
It can also lead to immune 
system suppression, 
you know, after you get 
a sunburn especially, 
and then skin cancer. 
Skin cancer is a 
serious disease. 
It impacts more than -- it 
impacts one in five Americans, 
so we want to make sure that 
we're getting the word out, 
but it also is more common 
than colon, lung, breast, 
and prostate cancers combined, 
making it the most common cancer 
in the United States. 
[Enesta Jones] 
It seems like I've been hearing 
more about skin cancer 
in the last decade. 
Why is this?
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Well, there are a few reasons 
that this could happen. 
EPA focuses on two of the 
reasons why skin cancer 
is on the rise in particular. 
First we look at ozone 
layer depletion.
Ozone layer blocks UV, 
ultraviolet radiation, 
and since it's not as healthy 
as it used to be, 
we've been working through the 
Montreal Protocol on substances 
that deplete the ozone layer 
with the global community 
to phase out the chemicals that 
have been eating up or hurting 
the ozone layer. 
Now this takes some time, 
some lag time between when 
the ozone layer will recover 
and when we phase out 
these chemicals.  
So, 2065 is the expected 
recovery date, 
awhile away. 
In the meantime we have to do 
something to protect people 
now and encourage them 
to be safe in the sun, 
which gets to our second 
piece that EPA focuses on. 
If you look back to the early 
1900s, people were covering up 
all the time with a 
parasol, with hats, 
with full-length clothing. 
Now when they go outside, 
people are wearing as little 
as possible and 
seeking the sun. 
So, to help counteract that, we 
developed the SunWise program 
at EPA to educate the public 
and particularly children 
and families about the 
importance of being safe 
in the sun and what it does 
to them in the long term.
[Enesta Jones] 
You're absolutely right. 
I like to bare arms 
in the summertime. 
Can I still go sleeveless 
and be safe in the sun? 
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
You can go sleeveless. 
Obviously the longer your shirt 
is, the more protection that 
you're getting, but you're going 
to want to wear some sunscreen 
when you go outside, and you're 
going to want to look for 
a sunscreen that has an 
spf of 15 or higher. 
You're going want to look for a 
sunscreen that blocks a broad 
spectrum, UVA and UVB, 
and then most importantly 
you want to look for a sunscreen 
that you'll wear. 
What good is sunscreen if you're 
never going to put it on? 
So try a different -- try some 
different sunscreens out to see 
which one fits for you. 
And this sort of brings up 
another interesting topic that 
I do want to talk about because 
occasionally we get questions 
about newborns 
and sunscreen. 
And the American Academy of 
Pediatrics recommends that 
the first priority is keeping 
your kid out of the sun, 
your newborn up to six months 
out of the sun unless they have 
a medical condition like 
jaundice, in which case 
they need some sun exposure. 
If you can't keep them out 
of the sun, you know, 
when you're outdoors, 
seek shade, 
cover up with full-length 
clothing, hat, sunglasses. 
If you can't do that, then they 
say try the sunscreen out, 
small amounts, back of the 
hands, the face, 
other exposed skin.
[Enesta Jones] 
Let's talk a little bit 
more about sunscreen. 
It seems like you go in the 
stores these days and you see 
shelves and shelves of sunscreen 
so it's hard to decide which one 
to buy. 
What should you look for? 
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Well, again, you want to 
look for that spf 15. 
You want to make sure 
it's at least that. 
You want to look for the UVA/UVB 
broad spectrum protection, 
and then you want to find one 
that you're comfortable wearing.
[Enesta Jones] 
So, spf 15 versus 30 -- 
which is better? 
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Well, spf 15 is good enough. 
A lot of people think that spf 
30 is twice as good as spf 15. 
It's not. 
An spf of 15 blocks 93 percent 
of UVB rays. 
Those are the burning 
rays compared to the UVA, 
the aging rays, which is getting 
back to why you need that broad 
spectrum protection. 
An spf 30, on the other hand, 
blocks 97 percent. 
You bump that up to an spf 
of 100, you might think, 
"Oh, 100 percent protection!" 
It's only 99 percent blocking 
UVB, so it really gets smaller 
and smaller the more protection 
you get, the higher the number. 
So, if you wanted an spf of 30, 
that's fine, 
but you don't need 
to pay more for it, 
so just look for something that 
you can wear and apply properly 
because application 
is really the key. 
You want to make sure you're 
putting it on every two hours -- 
well, first of all, before you 
go out -- and then again every 
two hours and then reapply 
it generously.  
[Enesta Jones] 
That was my next 
question, Luke. 
You see labels that say 
"all-day protection" 
or "waterproof protection." 
Does that mean in the morning 
when I slather on some sunscreen 
before I go to work that I don't 
need to reapply it?
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Well, no. 
There's no such thing 
as all-day protection. 
There's no such thing 
as waterproof. 
It is going to come off in water 
after extended periods of time. 
So, again, you're going to want 
to make sure you put it on 
generously, a palm full, 
an ounce full of sunscreen, 
and then put it on 
every two hours. 
If you're swimming or sweating 
or toweling dry, 
you're going to want to 
reapply it more often, 
probably every 40 to 80 minutes 
depending on the sunscreen.
[Enesta Jones] 
I bought a big bottle 
of sunscreen last year, 
and I have some leftovers. 
Can I use it this summer? 
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
You can use it, but I'd first 
look at the expiration date. 
The expiration date could be 
on there; it might not be. 
What we recommend people do is, 
first of all, write the date 
that you purchased it on the 
bottle and then three years 
later, throw it out. 
But I do want to interject, 
if you've got a bottle 
of sunscreen and you've had 
it for multiple seasons, 
you might not be using enough. 
Or maybe you like to buy a 
lot of sunscreen bottles, 
and that's fine, too, 
but you want to make sure 
you're putting a generous 
palm full, an ounce. 
I mean, one bottle of -- an 
eight-ounce bottle of sunscreen 
for a family outdoors on a 
weekend, if they're outside, 
hopefully seeking some shade 
in between, for four hours, 
they're going to go through 
a bottle of sunscreen 
in four hours.  
So you really do want to 
use it very liberally. 
[Enesta Jones] 
One last question 
on sunscreen. 
Many people think that you only 
need to wear it in the summer. 
Isn't that a big misnomer?
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
It is a big misnomer. 
You need to wear 
it year round. 
Obviously, some days if it's 
pitch black outside, 
you're not going to need 
to put it on. 
But you want to look 
at your shadow. 
If your shadow is taller than 
you are, you need to be wearing 
sunscreen if you're outdoors 
for extended periods of time. 
And I do want to say 
that sunscreen, 
we've talked about it a lot, 
but it's not the only way 
to be safe outside 
from the sun. 
And I'm going to give you a 
little tidbit of information. 
It's a fun little mnemonic 
device you can use to help 
remember things. 
You're going to slip, slop, 
slap, wrap and seek shade. 
So I'm going to act some 
of these out, okay. 
If you want to join me, 
you're welcome to.
[Enesta Jones] 
I will, I will.
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
First you're going 
to slip on a shirt. 
[Enesta Jones] 
Okay.
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
You're going to slop 
on some sunscreen. 
[Enesta Jones] 
All right, I'm going 
to get some. 
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Yeah, please do. 
And you'll probably put it on 
more than just your nose, 
but for now, that will work.
[Enesta Jones] 
I'll put some on these arms. 
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
There we go, and then you 
want to slap on a hat. 
[Enesta Jones] 
Slap on a hat! 
Okay.
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Okay, and wrap on 
some sunglasses. 
All right, so now 
we are sunwise. 
And then seek shade between 
the hours of ten and four.
[Enesta Jones] 
Okay, I think I got it. 
[laughter] 
[Enesta Jones] 
So, Luke, getting back 
to skin cancer, 
can dark skinned people like 
myself -- are we still prone 
to skin cancer?
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Absolutely. 
Skin cancer doesn't discriminate 
against ethnicity, race, or age. 
It can get anybody. 
And Bob Marley, in fact, 
died of melanoma at age 36. 
You know, melanoma is the most 
often fatal form of skin cancer, 
and it's very unfortunate they 
didn't catch it early enough, 
which seems to be the problem 
often with individuals with 
darker skin. 
African Americans, in fact, 
are three times as likely 
to be diagnosed with a late 
stage melanoma skin cancer 
as whites, and Hispanics are 
two times more likely to be 
diagnosed with a late-stage 
melanoma than whites. 
This is very important because 
for anybody, the later you catch 
it, the more likely you are -- 
the less likely you are to beat 
the disease. 
If you catch it in the earliest 
stage, it's a 99 percent 
survival rate, which 
is very good, 
I mean almost everybody. 
If you get down to 
a later stage, 
you're looking at between 
15 and 65 percent survival. 
So you're going from pretty much 
10 in 10 people surviving down  
to between one and seven, which 
is a very dramatic drop off. 
[Enesta Jones] 
Definitely. 
We've been talking a lot about 
sun safety for people who want 
to go and just have a good time, 
but for those who are in the sun 
all day year round for work, 
construction workers, 
what advice do we 
have for them? 
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Well, it's really the same 
advice, you know. 
You've got to remember to 
wear that wide-rimmed hat 
like we are, the sunscreen. 
They can't seek shade as easily, 
so it does become an issue 
for folks that are in the 
recreation industry. 
We talked about 
skiing earlier. 
You know, you see a lot 
of sunburned skiers. 
You also have fishing, 
agriculture, also anybody 
else, construction, like you 
said, that are working outside 
to slip, slop, slap, 
wrap and seek shade.
[Enesta Jones] 
One final question. 
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Sure.
[Enesta Jones] 
What is EPA doing to help to 
promote people being safe 
in the sun?
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Well, EPA is -- first, 
we provide the UV Index, 
which is a tool to help you plan 
for your next day's events. 
It tells you what the peak UV 
level will be for the day, 
and you can find it on the 
Web site, newspapers. 
And very soon, in fact, you'll 
be able to find it on Facebook, 
which is kind of cool. 
And we also provide the 
SunWise Tool Kit, 
which is a free activity 
kit for elementary and 
middle school educators. 
Now, that's both in the school 
system as well as folks 
in after-school programs, camps, 
anyone working with kids. 
Really, the goal is to teach 
kids and their families 
how to be safe outside in 
the sun with some fun 
and engaging activities. 
We also provide a numerous, 
huge number of publications 
on skin cancer, sun damage, 
on the UV Index, 
really anything that we might 
be talking about today 
like sunscreen.  
You can get the publications 
for free online, 
or we can ship 
them to you. 
And finally, EPA works with 
the National Council on 
Skin Cancer Prevention, 
which is a group of 
45 organizations that are all 
working to prevent skin cancer. 
And this year, we're -- 
first, we had our first ever 
"Don't Fry Day," which was the 
Friday before Memorial Day, 
the unofficial kickoff of 
summer, just encouraging 
people to remember to slip, 
slop, slap and wrap 
when they go outside and really 
just raise awareness about 
skin cancer.
[Enesta Jones] 
Great. 
Well, thank you for being 
here today, Luke --
[Luke Hall-Jordan] 
Thank you for having me. 
[Enesta Jones] 
-- for not only telling us 
how to be safe in the sun 
but showing us. 
For more tips on how to 
be safer in the sun, 
go to www.epa.gov/sunwise.
See you next time 
on Green Scene.