CRI听力:Less Sunbathing, Less Skin Cancer

"Slip, slop, slap" is a phrase familiar to people of all ages in Australia.

Since 1980, the Cancer Council has been using the catchy phrase to promote safe sunbathing.

Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat. The message to reapply sunscreen was broadcast as a television cartoon or jingle through megaphones over some of Australia's famed beaches.

The campaign funded by public donations has long been internationally recognized.

Some 30 years after it was launched by Cancer Council Victoria in 1980, it appears that it's having an impact on a traditionally hard-to-reach target group - body-conscious teens.

The latest figures indicate that 55 percent of teenagers now prefer a natural look over the deeply bronzed Aussie look that has been en vogue for so long. Ian Olver is Chief Executive Officer of Cancer Council Australia.

"Since the survey of 2003/2004 we have 15 percent less teenagers who think that tanning is a good thing."

The council's latest study indicates that only 12 percent of teenagers now believe having a tan is healthy, and the number of children who want a tan has dropped to 45 percent from 60 percent.

Sydney teens say some kids still want to look tanned, but the message is sinking in. One says:

"It makes you look nice and makes you look fresh, but I think all teenagers know that it's not good for you to have a tan."
Another one agrees.

"I don't think a tan looks very natural on a person like me, and I think some people should stick to the color of skin they have and try not to tan."

Australia has one of the world's highest skin cancer rates due to its climate and high UV levels linked to its proximity to the equator and other factors. In 2007, 448 people died of the disease.

The Cancer Council says at least two in three Australians will develop skin cancer by the age of 70.

The council also says general practitioners in Australia conduct more than 1 million patient consultations a year for skin cancer. They treat about 434,000 patients for one or more non-melanoma skin cancers.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.