Sun protection factor (SPF) reality check
The FDA appears to be getting at least one thing right with new regulations for sunscreen and sunblock products.
As I mentioned last week, the agency has admitted that an SPF above 50 is meaningless and does not offer any greater protection than products with lower SPFs.
SPF is sun protection factor. And the numbering is simple. Say you use a sunscreen that’s SPF 10. That means you can expose yourself to sunlight 10 times longer than the time it usually takes you to begin developing a sunburn.
But the SPF just isn’t logical when SPF numbers get absurdly high.
An Environmental Working Group (EWG) report puts it this way: Say you begin to burn within 30 minutes of sun exposure. You apply a lotion that’s SPF 100. So…now you can safely sit in full sunshine for 50 hours without burning?
It’s absurd. In fact, in a 2007 draft regulation, the FDA called SPF numbers over 50 “inherently misleading.”
And there’s a huge potential for harm in being mislead like that.
Studies have shown that when SPF is quite high, users begin to feel like their protection is invincible. So they’re likely to apply less sunscreen than the amount recommended, and they tend to spend longer periods in direct sunlight.
The EWG report also notes that higher SPF means higher levels of chemicals applied directly to the skin. And some of those chemicals have been linked to hormone disruption and tissue damage.
You can find EWG’s gallery of sunscreens and sunblocks that contain the least amounts of harmful chemicals while still providing sufficient protection at this link: breakingnews.ewg.org/2011sunscreen/
Source:
“What’s Wrong with High SPF?” Environmental Working Group, 2010, ewg.org
