Many people believe that slathering on SPF 30 sunscreen before hitting the beach or the ski slopes should protect them from cancer-causing sun rays, but advocates say that may not be enough.
The sun protection factor label, which tells people how long the sunscreen will block the ultraviolet B (UVB) rays, only tells half the sun protection story, they say.
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The other more harmful rays, ultraviolet A (UVA), may be eking through and putting people at risk.
Skin cancer prevention advocates are calling for tougher federal labeling standards so people know the real level of protection.
“You would think there would be some type of standard for regulating what is in [sunscreens] or how they market those products,” said Brittany Lietz, Miss Maryland 2006 and a melanoma survivor.
“We want people to be educated consumers, and we want people to pick up a bottle of sunscreen and know what they are buying.”
About 1,100 new cases of melanoma — a deadly form of skin cancer that can be caused by overexposure to the sun — will be diagnosed in Maryland this year, according to the Maryland Skin Cancer Prevention Program.
The dangerous UVA rays have been shown to cause skin cancer, said Roberta Herbst, coordinator of the Maryland Skin Cancer Prevention Program, which is funded by the state health department.
UVA, the main light in tanning booths, is a longer wavelength and penetrates more deeply into the skin, she said. UVB has a shorter wavelength and causes burns.
“We have always been concerned that people don’t know how much UVA protection they are getting,” Herbst said.
Herbst’s group has pushed for broad spectrum sunscreen to block both rays. Some sunscreens offer this protection, but the labels don’t always address it.
In August, the Food and Drug Administration proposed changing the labeling standard to include a four-star rating system that tells the effectiveness in blocking UVA, as well as a revised SPF number.
The agency has received thousands of written comments and hundreds of submissions of scientific data, FDA spokeswoman Rita Chappelle said.
“They are moving as expeditiously as possible,” she said.
Once a rule is finalized, manufacturers will have one to two years to comply, depending on when the rule is issued in the manufacturing season, she said.
Citizens for Sun Protection and Ciba Corp., a global sunscreen company, recently sent a letter to the FDA calling for officials to act quickly in updating the labels and approving ingredients that provide broad spectrum protection.
“Sunscreens in the U.S. are the poorest in the world, simply because there are no regulations,” said Catherine Ehrenberger, Ciba’s president of home and personal care. “This is a health and safety issue for the American public.”
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