Sun Screen, Cancer and You: Buyer be Ware

Sun Screen, Cancer and You: Buyer be Ware

Should sunscreen be used for primary protection from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays? Seems like a simple question doesn’t it?

Not necessarily.

Recently, The Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org), a non-profit organization with the mission of using the power of public information to protect public health and the environment, came out with a very detailed report concerning sunscreen safety.

According to the report, many of the ingredients in sunscreen may be potentially hazardous as well as carcinogenic especially to those who do not apply sunscreen properly or are part of vulnerable segments of the population including children and pregnant women.

Now, before we become paranoid over the types of sunscreen we use, I would like to stress that research concerning sunscreen is far from conclusive. In fact, it is similar to the debate concerning cell phones and cancer. We simply don’t know the impact of many of the common ingredients in sunscreens.

But that does not mean we should not be precautionary and be aware of what these ingredients are and how they may be harmful. With that in mind, I have been asked to, next week (mid-week), provide you with a series of blog entries concerning sun screen safety so that you can become “sunscreen” smart and protect yourself and your family from not only skin cancer but from the other potential health risks associated with sunscreen.

So, before you go and throw out all the sunscreens you have that may, for instance, contain oxybenzone (one of the most common ingredients in sunscreen that may be harmful), or may be higher than SPF 50 (research suggests that SPF50+ may pose more harm than good), be sure you come back to the ORCF blog next week.