It contains a list of the product’s active ingredients, warnings about potential dangers or interactions, and basic directions. You’re used to seeing this on the back of any container of over-the-counter meds. ![]() Another change: Now sunscreens with SPF 15 and under come with a warning since they protect you from sunburn, but not premature skin aging or skin cancer. Since the difference is so small, the FDA has now banned SPFs above 50+ to avoid misleading the public. Surprise: An SPF of 60 barely blocks any more UV rays than an SPF of 30 (they protect against 95 and 98 percent, respectively). Lefkovits, associate clinical professor of dermatology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine). The time limit will be noted on the label, so consumers know when they need to apply more (although you should reapply every two hours even if you’re not in the water, says Albert M. ![]() In its place is “water resistant,” meaning that the product starts to wash away after either 40 minutes or 80 minutes. No sunscreen is truly waterproof or sweatproof-so manufacturers can no longer use these words on the bottle. Now, it can only show up on sunscreens that pass a test. Manufacturers used to be able to put these two words-which mean a product protects against both UVA and UVB rays-on any bottle they wanted, without having to prove it. EWG representatives say the organization also chose to exclude powders and sprays because the FDA has expressed concerns about how well these filter UV rays. The EWG also chose not to endorse sprays or powders since some sunscreen ingredients, such as titanium dioxide, have been classified by the International Agency for Research on Carcinogens as possibly carcinogenic if inhaled (the risk of inhaling sunscreen goes up, of course, if you're using a sunscreen spray or powder). They also had to contain the fewest possible ingredients with toxicity concerns, such as retinyl palmitate (an ingredient that become more toxic or harmful when exposed to sunlight) and oxybenzone (a hormone disruptor). ![]() To get the EWG’s seal of approval, sunscreens had to offer solid sun protection not exceeding SPF values above “50+”(which the FDA warns can give a false sense of security and offer poor UVA protection relative to the high SPF). Released this week by the advocacy organization, the report recommends more than 100 products out of thousands currently available on store shelves. On the heels of the new rules comes an annual report from the Environmental Working Group that lists the top sunscreens of 2013. Banned are fuzzy buzzwords such as “sunblock” and “sweatproof” in favor of more accurate, research-backed terms that give consumers a clear sense of how well the product protects against UV-induced skin damage and skin cancer. Have you made your first drugstore run of the season to stock up on sunscreen? If not, you’re in for a surprise: All products claiming to shield your skin from the sun-lotions, sprays, makeup, even lip balms-must now follow new labeling rules mandated by the FDA.
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