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URGENTLY REQUIRED: A WARNING LABEL ON SUNSCREENS WITH BIOAVAILABLE UV FILTERS

The sunscreen industry has deceptively capitalized by labelling sunscreens as “REEF SAFE” or “REEF FRIENDLY” if oxybenzone, octinoxate or any parabens is excluded. Yet many of these contain octocrylene - not considered reef safe in Palau. Many now use phenoxyethanol (banned in Palau) as a preservative, and labelled reef safe  to fool the consumer that a sunscreen is safe if paraben or oxybenzone free. Phenoxyethanol can be neurotoxic in humans who have occupational exposure. It acts as an anaesthetic to marine life and can be lethal to fish and coral larva.

The FDA now agrees with me. Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are the only two UV filters proposed to receive a Category 1 or GRASE (Generally Regarded As Safe and Effective) designation.  The FDA has placed  virtually all the PAH  filters used in typical brand name sunscreens on a “watch” list – insufficient data to support a positive GRASE  label - safety and efficacy need  to be established - to be known as Category III. These include cinoxate, dioxybenzone, ensulizole, homosalate, meradimate, octinoxate, octisalate, octocrylene, padimate O, sulisobenzone, oxybenzone or avobenzone at this time.

The ‘Winter blues’ drives 50% of Canadians towards a beach vacation and  March Break accounts for a major part of the over 85.8 million days spent by beaches (2017 Expedia® Flip Flop Report). The R&R benefit and the break from routine are positive. Most  Canadians are unaware that they contribute to coral degradation on a global scale caused by toxicity to coral and marine organisms from Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) UV filters found  in 90% of sunscreens they use.  The world's third-ever global coral bleaching event is now underway (NOAA). From Hawaii to the iconic Great Barrier Reef, eastward all the way to the Bahamas, Caribbean, coastal Central America and beyond — coral reefs are now being severely damaged or even dying. Coral degradation from sunscreen toxicity is  a major factor in this devastation to the coral and marine wildlife. Effects occur within a short time frame unlike the slower pace of changes induced by a rise in ocean temperatures from climate change. Coral bleaching accelerates and worsens climate change damage and devastates coral recruitment all around the world. The undesirable UV filters are genotoxic to coral larva, which greatly lowers reef generation and coral resiliency to climate change.

Media and “experts” continue to misinform consumers about sunscreens and UV protection. Facts need to be separated from fiction. This blog is dedicated to Nikiforos Kollias PhD (biophysicist, photobiologist, medical physicist, bioengineer, Professor of Dermatology at Harvard and UBC). He spent the last 20 years of his life trying to dispel the first myth -  that there is a difference in the way “mineral or natural” and so called “chemical” sunscreens protect against UV radiation.

North American consumers should not rely on label claims - whether it is the SPF or claims of UVA and Broad spectrum protection. Most of our brand name sunscreens would not pass European or Australian criteria for UVA-PF (UVA- Protection Factor) and their better standards for Broad Spectrum coverage. Proper and adequate UVA protection may be the most essential property for a sunscreen to actually prevent skin cancer and photoaging. The global market, particularly in North America is dominated by UVB- BIASED sunscreens with inadequate UVA protection, despite label claims saying ‘BROAD SPECTRUM’ UVA/UVB. Even the EWG (Environmental Working Group) recognizes this reality in their 2017 Sunscreen Report.

There is an unrelenting rise in skin cancer rates in North America with an annual increase around 2-3 % over the past 3 decades.

In the UK there was an alarming increase of 40% in the past 4 years. Empirical analysis of global skin cancer rates suggest that rates are levelling off or decreasing in countries with higher UVA-Protection Factor (UVA-PF) levels in sunscreens (2015 Sunscreen Symposium, Florida, September 2015). The compelling evidence for the primary role of UVA - particularly the UVA1 or longwave UVA -  in the genesis of skin cancer – comes from a number of scientific studies over the past 15 years (Halliday 2002, Agar 2004, Noonan 2012, Rünger 2012). This is logical and intuitive as UVA is more abundant than UVB and penetrates deeper into the skin.