Have you bought sunscreen lately? From what the advertising claims, we wouldn’t get sunburned even if Scotty accidently beamed us a kajillion miles closer to the sun.
Sunscreens have never been on our list of things to watch. They basically do one thing, and the higher the SPF rating, the more protected we are. Right?
Well, before we squirt goo from that bottle or mist ourselves, here’s something to think about. The Environmental Working Group studied 500 sunscreens and ended up recommending only 8 percent of those studied.
The problems they found were:
- Oxybenzone is a chemical ingredient linked to hormone disruption
- Retinyl palmitate, another ingredient, is a form of vitamin A that may speed up the development of skin tumors and lesions
- FDA regulations for sunscreens have been on hold since 1978
- SPFs greater than 50 may not be a good idea because people assume they can apply less, stay out longer without reapplying, and that they’re protected from UVAs, and that’s not always the case
The Personal Care Products Council, an association representing sunscreen manufacturers and others, basically says it isn’t so. They claim to do all the necessary testing and follow FDA guidelines.
Who should we believe? Wish we had an answer. More studies need to be done by various groups before we can be certain.
