Why Sunscreens Don’t Always Work
May 20, 2019 – Sunscreen may not be as reliable as once believed.
In 2011, Consumer Reports published the results of tests it conducted on popular sunscreen products to evaluate their efficacy and safety. It stated that many of them do not protect against UVA rays, the most dangerous of UV rays, and most contain harmful chemicals and are not waterproof.
In 2019, CNN published a new study from the nonprofit organization Environmental Working Group, which corroborates the old findings and further discusses sunscreen’s shortcomings. What sets this report apart from past ones is the use of the new U.S. Food and Drug Administration safety guidelines proposed in February as basis to judge more than 1,300 sunscreen products.
The EWG concluded that nearly two-thirds of the sunscreens evaluated would fall short of the FDA’s proposed standards for safety and efficacy.
The results from EWG’s newest analysis highlight the following:
25% of all sunscreens currently on the market would fail to reach the standards set by the FDA for UVA protection.
- Out of both types of ultraviolet light, UVB rays cause sunburns but do not penetrate the skin as deeply as UVA rays, which damage the DNA of skin cells. This damage directly contributes to skin cancer, especially Melanoma, which accounts for the most deaths out of all skin cancers. More Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer each year than with all other types of cancer combined.
- The FDA’s new proposed guidelines demand for all sunscreens with an SPF of 15 or higher to be broad-spectrum. A sunscreen must be labeled as broad-spectrum for it to protect from both UVB and UVA rays.
Nearly two-thirds of the chemical sunscreens tested contain, among several chemicals, oxybenzone, the substance associated with harming coral reef and marine life, as well as potentially causing other disturbances to human life.
- Many of the chemicals found in the sunscreens tested, like avobenzone, oxybenzone, ecamsule and octocrylene, have been proven to have the ability of entering a person’s bloodstream after only one day of use and staying in their system for at least 24 more hours after.
- As sunscreens have been proven to not be waterproof, this means that their use requires frequent reapplication, which begs the question of whether this results in further contact with the potentially harmful chemicals present in many of them.
The new EWG study shows sunscreens cannot be solely relied on to guarantee safety from the sun. Stay on the safe side! Provide shaded areas for residents at public gathering places.
- There is no substitute for staying in the shade, and Shade Systems CoolNetTM shade fabric is shown to screen out up to 99% of the sun’s dangerous U.V. rays.