Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Best and Worst Sunscreens

Summer is right around the corner and it is important that you and your family are protected from the suns harmful rays, which are responsible for 1,000,000 new cases of skin cancer each year in the United States alone.

Many of you might not be aware of the harmful chemicals that are used in most commercial sunscreens on the market today. Chemicals that, in small doses, have been found to kill healthy cells in mice and are suspected carcinogens and toxins. In 2007, the Environmental Working Group, whose purpose is to promote environmental awareness and health, tested over 700 sunscreens and found that 84% of them were ineffective and unsafe. They also found that these sunscreens:

-offer inadequate protection from the sun;
-may be less safe and effective than products offered in other countries;
-are labeled with misleading product claims;
-contain ingredients with significant safety concerns.

The other 16% of the products on the market were found to be both "safe and effective, blocking both UVA and UVB radiation, remaining stable in sunlight, and containing few if any ingredients with significant known or suspected health hazards."

Click here to find the best and worst sunscreens on the market.

I hope this information will help you and your family make healthier choices today and everyday that follows.

Articles to read
CDC: Americans Carry Body Burden of Toxic Sunscreen Chemical

2 comments:

Karina said...

I wrote a post about sunscreen on my blog in February, and I linked to the SkinDeep database. It should be noted that EWG did not do the research themselves, but have compiled information from numerous sources.

The comments on my blog post also include some criticism of EWG and suggestions for other online resources.

http://aspiringecologist.blogspot.com/2008/02/coral-friendlier-sunscreen.html

Toxic World Blog said...

Thanks for the info and the link. I think every source can be criticized by somebody. We all need to be aware of what we're using and buying. In my opinion, the worst thing we can do is trust a product just because it is on the shelf.