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The FDA hasn't reviewed or updated sunscreen safety standards for nearly 30 years, longer than some of you younger parents have been around. Why the delay? Oh, let's just say a little industry pressure. That's because a main ingredient in most sunscreens is oxybenzone, a chemical that according to the Environmental Working Group, is linked to cell damage, hormone disruption, and allergies. And a new study released by the Centers for Disease Control states that 97% of Americans have oxybenzone in their blood.
Read the full story from the Environmental Working Group, here.
The tireless folks at the EWG released this extensive study of sunscreens, in which they tested 920 sunscreens and found many have questionable safety and effectiveness. Read about the study here.
Tired? Baby crying? Need to go? No problem. Here are a few of EWG's top picks for the safest, most effective sunscreens on the market (see the whole list here).
California Baby SPF 30+ Sunscreen Lotion Natural Bug Blend * (2007)
California Baby SPF 30+ Sunscreen Lotion Everyday/Year-Round * (2007)
(Way to go, California Baby! The list was loaded with their sunscreens.)
Kiss My Face 100% Paraben Free Sunscreen with Oat Protein SPF 30 * (2007)
Badger SPF 30 Sunscreen * (2007)
UV Natural Baby SPF 30+ New Formula 2007 * (2007)
Now, if the the sun would come out and the snow would finally melt, we could go outside and catch some rays, and even think about the need for sunscreen.
clip art: by Mark A. Hicks, illustrator.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Avoid Chemicals in Sunscreens this Spring and Summer-
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5 comments:
Hey Katie. I just wanted to let you know of my experience with sunscreens. This past week, my family and I went to Florida. Before leaving, I inventoried my sunscreen and I did have a tube of California Baby 30+ in my cabinet. Upon checking the ingredients however, I noticed that they use ethyl and propylparabens. Depending on whose site you are on, some says that these chemicials pose an increased risk to cancer and are at minimum a possible skin irritant. Therefore, I went to a local shop and the woman raved about Badger, which I ended up buying. This product was completely chemical free. We used it the first day and it came out thick and chunky and was extremely hard to spread. The worst part however, came when we all got burned after just a couple of hours in the sun and we had reapplied. So, I would love to hear from someone that has used a true chemical free product that they have liked because my search is still on! I may try the Kiss My Face next! Kristen
i don't know much about sunscreens...not a sun lover, really, but does anybody know about lip balms? they have sunscreen, too, right? is this a concern? do they contain the same chemicals?
I have been using SunPlay SPF130 for 10 years now and it works but being a commercial product, it has all the parabens, etc.
Is there really any non-chemical product that can protect against the sun though?
Hey guys,
I am a firm believer in the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Data Base. They break down ingredients and have fully tested each and give them a safety rating.
CA Baby rates from 0-5, and you can see the breakdown of information on this link. As you can see, it appears their ingredients aren't cancer causing..
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/brand.php?brand_id=146
and here are the best pics from EWG: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/special/parentsguide/#p_sunscreen, so there are other to choose from, too.
I am also very suprised that the CA Baby product had those parabens in it. The EWG report said that they didn't.. so I am not sure. Kristen, maybe it is a few years old (?) but I still can't imagine this company using bad/toxic ingredients.
I just checked my CA Baby SPF 30 Water Resistant sunscreen and it has none of those ingredients.
I hope this helps! I am still going with CA Baby for my kids, it seems like the best choice to me. Thanks for the heads up about Badger. I really like their rating, the company seems great, and hopefully they will improve the product.
Sorry to lead everyone astray! My tube of CA Baby 30+ sunscreen does have the 2 parabens listed as ingredients as I state in my first comment, however, CA Baby seems to have changed their mix! Not sure when it happened, but I did purchase the tube over a year ago. Newer tubes are not listing the parabens this time around. Not sure when they stopped using parabens(and hopefully they did and just aren't mentioning it!!) but I do love CA Baby products and will definately pick up a tube if they did in fact stop using parabens! Kristen
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