Description

This article is from the soc.culture.australian FAQ, by Stephen Wales with numerous contributions by others.

8.7.8 Skin Cancer

[MJ] To provide some (useful) information. The Antarctic ozone hole
does not in general affect Australia, we are too close to the equator.
Last summer (1992/93?) a small part of the outer edge did pass over
Tasmania and Victoria but lasted only for a couple of days and did not
cause particularly high levels of uv radiation at the ground.
Australians have the highest rates of skin cancer in the world
probably due to the combination of culture and having summer when the
earth is closest to the sun. Bring a hat, sunscreen and shirt. Don't
"bake" at all, but if you insist on being brown, authorities suggest
avoiding the strongest sunlight between 1100 and 1500 (summer time).

There was a big campaign against skin cancer: "Slip slop slap". It had
a cute little cartoon animal as the star of the commercial, a seagull,
whose "s's" were came out as a kind of cross between Donald Duck and
Sylvester the Cat.

The jingle went:

"Slip! Slop! Slap!
Slip on a shirt slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat!
Slip! Slop! Slap! (da-da)
In the sun this summer say,
'Slip-slop-slap!'"

There is an Ozone FAQ on sci.environment which is more likely to be
correct than what gets periodically posted on s.c.a.!

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