Sun safety: Check out the Environmental Working
Group's list of the best sunscreens before you head
outdoors this summer! Photo/Tracy Allerton
As we head into the Memorial Day 2010 weekend, tens of millions of Americans, here in South Florida and elsewhere, are preparing for a host of outdoor activities by stocking up on sunscreen. But a new report by the Environmental Working Group warns that very few of these products are actually safe to use -- and, in fact, could promote skin cancer! Let me repeat: Most sunscreen products on the market are unsafe to use!
(Read more from this Examiner about health and safety.
Jane Houlihan, EWG senior vice president for Research, said in a press release:
Many sunscreens available in the U.S. may be the equivalent of modern-day snake oil, plying customers with claims of broad-spectrum protection but not providing it, while exposing people to potentially hazardous chemicals that can penetrate the skin into the body."
According to the EWG -- which is doing the work that the FDA has been shirking for years -- only 8 percent of the sunscreens on the market are recommended. These products all have three things in common: They do not contain two ingredients that are suspected to promote cancer -- retinyl palmitate, a vitamin A compound found in 41 percent of sunscreens; and oxybenzone, a hormone-disrupting compound that penetrates the skin and enters the bloodstream -- and they do contain the sunblocking minerals zinc or titanium, or the ingredients Mexoryl or avobenzone.
Some of the safe sunscreens that made the EWG list of best beach and sport sunscreens include products made by All Terrain, Badger, California Baby, UV Natural and Jason Natural Cosmetics. Slightly riskier products that do not contain mineral sunblocks (which some people must simply avoid) include sunscreens made by Bull Frog, Coppertone and Beyond Coastal.
Also, the higher the "supposed" SPF, the more questionable these sun-protection lotions, creams and sprays tend to be. For confirmation, just look at the alphabet-soup list of unpronouncable chemical ingedients. If you wouldn't put this stuff in you body, why would you put it on your body? And, the EWG notes, the SPF factor is mostly just an illusion -- because people rarely apply the full amount necessarily to deliver the full protection:
In everyday practice, a product labeled SPF 100 really performs like SPF 3.2, an SPF 30 rating equates to a 2.3 and an SPF 15 translates to 2."
Turns out, it's actually wiser to wear lower-SPF sunscreens (up to about 30) and use hats, clothes and umbrellas to shade yourself as much as possible when outdoors.
Bottom line: Ditch the "bad" sunscreens and seek out products on the EWG list. Of course, these are some of the priciest products on the market; but given the fact that all suscreens are expensive, at least with these products, you'll know you are getting your money's worth -- and being safe, too!
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