In cooperation with a number of leading public health organizations, the EPA recently developed a series of action steps to help people avoid damage from the sun. One of the recommendations is to make sure children have enough areas for shade when playing outside. Landscape Structures Inc. manufactures a product line called CoolToppersTM which aims to protect children from overexposure to the sun.

WASHINGTON - According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the incidence of skin cancer in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime, and one American dies every hour from this devastating disease. Children are particularly at risk of overexposure since most of the average person's lifetime exposure occurs before the age of 18.

Since the appearance of an ozone hole over the Antarctic in the early 1980s, most Americans have become aware of the health threats posed by ozone depletion, which decreases our atmosphere's natural protection from the sun's harmful ultra-violet (UV) rays. However, most people are not aware that skin cancer, while largely preventable, is the most common form of cancer in the United States, with more than one million cases reported annually.

Melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, is also one of the fastest growing types of cancer in the United States. Many dermatologists believe there may be a link between childhood sunburns and melanoma later in life. Melanoma cases in this country have more than doubled in the past two decades, and the rise is expected to continue. With such increasing risks predicted, the need for Landscape Architects to incorporate areas for shade within their playground and park designs is more important now than ever before.

In response to the serious public health threat posed by overexposure to UV radiation, the EPA is working with schools and communities across the nation through the SunWise School Program. The program aims to teach children how to protect themselves from overexposure to the sun. For more information, call EPA's Stratospheric Ozone Information Hotline at

(800) 296-1996.