Welsh Charity Wants Free Suncream for Schoolchildren
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October 5, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
A cancer charity is campaigning to make the Welsh assembly government provide free suncream to primary school children in Wales.
Cancer charity Tenovus presented a petition to the Welsh government yesterday to provide free prescription suncream for under 11s.
The petition, signed by over 9,500 people, is part of a campaign by the Welsh charity that is trying to raise awareness of skin cancer across Wales.
Tenovus associate director of research, Dr Ian Lewis, told The Fresh Outlook that he is concerned about the increasing cases of skin cancer in Wales: “We know that over the last 15 years the incidents of malignant melanoma have more than doubled in Wales. If you look at men alone the figures have more then trebled. We also know that if you get sunburnt as a child it can double the risk of skin cancer later in life.”
Dr lewis told The Fresh Outlook that the campaign has been going on since summer: “We’ve also been taking an ice cream van that we’ve modified into a sunscreen van along to festivals all around Wales, giving out free suncream to children and families but also sun awareness advice and information cards.”
The Welsh government petition committee accepted the petition yesterday and will be discussing the issue on October 12.
A Welsh government spokesperson said: “We encourage people to take precautions to protect themselves from the sun, which can cause skin cancer. The use of sunscreen is only one of the measures which need to be emphasised when protecting children from the harmful effects of too much sun.”
Dr Lewis told The Fresh Outlook that he doesn’t know how much the proposed scheme would cost but believes that it would save the NHS money spent on treating cases of skin cancer.
“Skin cancer is costing the UK millions of pounds, for example England spent £240 million on skin cancer cases last year. If you transfer that to the population in Wales it costs our economy over £40 million each year. If the issue of cost is seen as a priority we would happily work with them to work it out,” said Dr Lewis.
For more information on skin cancer and precautionary methods visit www.tenovus.com.
By Ben Perks
[Image courtesy of Welshbabe]
