Last summer, the American Cancer Society ran an ad that many dermatologists found unnecessarily inflammatory and misleading. It's gist: skin cancer kills, wear sunscreen. The ad raised eyebrows for overstating the mortality risk of skin cancer, but it also received criticism for exaggerating the protective powers of sunscreen:
“It’s just not that simple,” said Dr. Barry Kramer, associate director for disease prevention at the National Institutes of Health.
“We do have some pretty good evidence that sunscreen will reduce your risk of the less lethal forms of skin cancer,” Dr. Kramer added. “There’s very little evidence that sunscreens protect you against melanoma, yet you often hear that as the dominant message.”
The chief financier of the ad: Neutrogena
Now in the Summer of 2008, the Environmental Working Group has published a report on the efficacy and composition of 952 brand-name sunscreens. Their findings: 80% fail to adequately protect skin and some contain chemicals that may be harmful when absorbed into skin. In part, the failures of current sunscreens has to do with the FDA's reluctance to require them to protect against both UVA and UVB rays.
The push-back against the EWG's report raises the legitimate concern: will people give up on protecting their skin if they no longer trust their sunscreen? However, EWG's report does identify those sunscreens that effectively block the sun.
Protecting the market-share of companies such as Coppertone, Jergens, Banana Boat, and L'Oreal is of course the larger reason for resisting the findings of the EWG. And examining today's article about the EWG sunscreen report on CNN reveals the way Foundations and Councils, thinly veiled industry front groups, get to stand in for legitimate scientific discourse in today's "fair and balanced" health news:
"Questions about the safety of oxybenzone unnecessarily alarm consumers," says John Bailey, the chief scientist for the Personal Care Products Council, which offers its scientific information about the safety of sunscreen ingredients online.
The Personal Care Products Council? Their member list reveals over 600 manufacturers and distributors.
Who is the Personal Care Products Council?
The Personal Care Products Council (formerly the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association) is the leading national trade association for the cosmetic and personal care products industry and represents the most innovative names in beauty today.
"We're concerned this will raise unnecessary confusion and cause people to stop using sunscreen," says the Skin Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to educating the public about sun safety. "Consumers should rest assured that sunscreen products are safe and effective when used as directed."
The Skin Cancer Foundation may sound like a group disinterested in vagaries of industry, but in fact its corporate sponsors include an entire array of companies eager and willing to "educate" the public about sun safety.
An abbreviated list of sponsors:
Allergan Skin Care
Bare Escentuals
Bath & Body Works
Clinique
DDF (Doctor’s Dermatologic Formula)
The Gillette Company
Groupe Clarins
Guardian Industries Corp.
Hawaiian Tropic
Jergens
Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company
AMBI
Aveeno
Purpose
La Roche-Posay
Lancôme USA
LensCrafters
L'Oréal Paris Dermo-Expertise
Mary Kay Inc.
MD formulations
Neutrogena Corporation
The Procter & Gamble Company
Rio Brands
Schering-Plough HealthCare Products, Inc.
Screen, Inc.
Sephora
Shiseido Cosmetics (America) Ltd.
Skin Effects by Dr. Jeffrey Dover
Solar Cosmetic Labs, Inc.
Solar Protective Factory
Sunbrella Brand Fabrics
Sun Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.
Therapeutix by dr luftman
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International
Vertra, Inc.
Vichy Laboratoires
The Walt Disney Company
The bottom line: The Personal Care industry has an interest in hyping both the risks of skin cancer and the effectiveness of their products in preventing it. Aside from smoking cessation, there is no other method of preventing a cancer that has so squarely been place in the hands of consumers. As a result, an entire industry has put its weight behind defining the science of sunscreen. The Environmental Working Group, recognizing that the FDA is years away from raising sunscreen standards, is not challenging the value of sunscreen itself, but the value of a wide swath of products on the market.
Link: Does your sunscreen work? Look up how the Environmental Working Group rates your sunscreen.