The summer months are upon us, and family and summer vacations are already underway. From California’s West Coast beaches, to island hopping and East Coast varieties such as Virginia and Myrtle Beach, sun tanning and sun exposure is laid out on every sandy shore.
Consumers are definitely wising up to the importance of sunscreen and protecting their skin from harmful UV rays in order to prevent skin cancer, premature aging and other inflictions. But the other side of the sunscreen coin—potentially harmful ingredients—is raising questions: Are they really safe? What good is consumer awareness if they’re using harmful ingredients to block harmful UV rays? That doesn’t really make sense.
In 1973, FDA set labeling and safety guidelines for sunscreens, but sun care formulators and government officials are questioning its archaic setup. Players in Washington are pushing FDA to investigate possible links between skin cancer and retinyl palmitate, used in many sunscreens. Additionally, The New York Times is advocating three important steps FDA needs to take to amend the current guidelines on sunscreen:
Step 1: Label Liability—Sunscreen labels are unclear as to the protection they offer. UVA protection? FDA needs to modify label formats.
Step 2: Quit Sitting On It—FDA is lagging. Numerous sunscreen ingredients are available in Europe and Japan but not here in the U.S. because FDA is dragging their feet on the approval process.
Step 3: Sunscreen Monograph—The 1978 regulations are in desperate need of face lift, and a standardized test for.