FDA sets sights on regulating sunscreen
I know it’s odd that I am so passionate about sunscreen, but it is something that is important to me for many reasons. The first is that I have grown up with a mom who used to slather us in sunscreen before we went outside. I will be thankful to her in 20 years when I’m not covered in wrinkles or skin cancer (even though as a kid it used to drive me crazy! The 5 minutes it took was an eternity in kid time).
“After 33 years of consideration, the Food and Drug Administration took steps on Tuesday to sort out the confusing world of sunscreens, with new rules that specify which lotions provide the best protection against the sun and ending claims that they are truly waterproof.
The F.D.A. said sunscreens must protect equally against two kinds of the sun’s radiation, UVB and UVA, to earn the coveted designation of offering “broad spectrum” protection. UVB rays cause burning; UVA rays cause wrinkling; and both cause cancer.
The rules, which go into effect in a year, will also ban sunscreen manufacturers from claiming their products are waterproof or sweatproof because such claims are false. Instead, they will be allowed to claim in minutes the amount of time in which the product is water resistant, depending upon test results.
And only sunscreens that have a sun protection factor, or SPF, of 15 or higher will be allowed to maintain that they help prevent sunburn and reduce the risks of skin cancer and early skin aging.”
The article also says that the FDA has not decided if it will stand up against companies claiming “SPF numbers of 70, 80 and 100 even though such lotions offer little more protection than those with an SPF of 50.” Because more people are more aware of skin damage and the need to protect our skin, many sunscreen companies have been playing off of our fear and selling us products that promise us the world, but do not actually offer us much.
The article also states that many researchers have not found a value in an SPF over 50:
““Right now, we don’t have any data to show that anything above 50 adds any value for anybody,” Dr. Woodcock said.
Dr. Warwick L. Morison, a professor of dermatology at Johns Hopkins University and chairman of the photobiology committee for the Skin Cancer Foundation, said he was disappointed that the F.D.A. failed to ban SPF numbers higher than 50 because such products expose people to more irritating sunscreen ingredients without meaningful added protection.
“It’s pointless,” Dr. Morison said.
More than two million people in the United States are treated each year for the two most common types of skin cancer, basal cell and squamous cell, and more than 68,000 receive a diagnosis of melanoma, the most deadly form of the disease. Sunscreens have not been shown to prevent the first case of basal cell carcinoma, but they delay reoccurrences of basal cell and have been shown to prevent squamous cell and melanoma.”
