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This is your annual reminder to read the label and do the research on your sunscreen.

If you think that anything off the shelf with the letters SPF on the front will protect you from sunburn and skin cancer, you may be dangerously wrong.

If you think that the FDA or any other government agency is doing rigorous scientific testing of sunscreens on the market to make sure that they are safe and effective, again, the data may not support that hypothesis.

The Environmental Working Group’s study of 1,097 sunscreens found only 15% to be both safe and effective.  Their gripes: many active ingredients in sunscreen either degrade in sunlight, or are themselves known or suspected carcinogens.   They also found that of “high-SPF” sunscreens, advertising an SPF of 30 or higher, only 7% protect against UVA rays.  EWG didn’t do experimental testing of the susncreen ingredients, but what they did do was read published, peer-reviewed research on various ingredients in sunscreens, and cross-reference ingredient lists against their research.

You can go to their web site, and look up your favorite sunscreen or their list of recommended safe-and-effective sunscreens.  For each sunscreen that they list, they go through the ingredients and provide citations to various studies on each ingredient.

Because this research activity appears not to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, I looked to see if I could find some intelligent criticism of their work, or something to suggest that they are wrong.  The best I found was from the industry, saying that they “obviously have a very low-level understanding of how sunscreen works.”  The industry comment did not elaborate any further or make any attempt to rebut EWG’s claims.  Then again, no scientific argument can hold a candle to calling your adversary stupid.  One thing the industry seems to be right about: this doesn’t mean you should stop using sunscreen.  It just means you should be a smarter consumer and not rely on the government to protect you.

I’m not a dermatologist or a chemist. I can read the language in these studies, but I’m not really qualified to evaluate the quality of the science.  My only concluding thought is this: most of the sunscreens in issue are synthetic chemical compounds, made in a lab, that I am asked to put in direct contact with my flesh in fairly high concentrations.  When a serious question is raised about their safety and effectiveness, I put the burden of persuasion on those who tell me that it’s safe.  Until such time as they meet that burden, I’m going to use one of the products that *everybody* agrees are safe and effective.

Tags:   fact check · sunscreen · Things that are not okay1 Comment