Your Carefully Applied Sunscreen? It May Not Work (At All)
By Tom Chandler on Jun 21, 2007 in News
As a pasty-skinned outdoors type with a history of skin cancer, I slather sunscreen on my body pretty much every time I go outdoors.
Sure, rubbing cold, gummy white streaky stuff all over your body makes you wildly attractive to the opposite gender, but at least I felt protected.
That was before The Goat alerted me to an Environmental Working Group test of sunscreens that suggests 84% of them don’t work very well.
Some provide little or nor protection against UVA radiation, and a few even degrade in sunlight — sometimes in a matter of minutes.
In addition, many brands were making wildly inaccurate claims. (Have you ever wondered why they tell you to reapply supposedly “waterproof” sunscreen after sweating or swimming?)
Yes, it’s a proud day for the sunscreen industry, especially if you’re one of the companies who managed to make a few bucks selling sunscreen that was both useless and hazardous to those wearing it.
They did recommend 128 products, so at least we’ve got that going for us.
See you at the dermatologist’s office, Tom Chandler
Technorati Tags: sunscreen, environmental working group, skin cancer
Janet | Jun 22, 2007 | Reply
It is so important to be concerned about skin cancer and wearing sun protective clothing, especially on young sensitive skin.
I found a wonderful site that sells sun protective clothing for the whole family. http://www.shadysun.com
They also sells an aromatherapy sunscreen which is broad spectrum, and all organic.
Tom Chandler | Jun 22, 2007 | Reply
I was saddened to see my sunscreen brands falling to the bottom of the list. Ick.