Even in the early days of summer, sun on skin can be too much of a good thing. You should be concerned about getting sun-sational – and limit your exposure to the Earth’s brightest star.

The warm feeling of sunshine on skin for a few minutes every day is a good thing. It helps the skin make Vitamin D that is essential for the assimilation of calcium and other minerals.

For that hour or two of serious beach tanning, well isn’t that what sunscreens are for?

Ah, there’s the rub. Not all sunscreens are created equal. In fact, according to the Environmental Working Group, some sunscreens do virtually nothing to prevent premature skin aging, skin cancer, and other skin problems.

EWG conducted an investigation of 832 name-brand sunscreens and found evidence that 84% of the products on the market are either unsafe or ineffective.

Their study concluded that one in every eight high-SPF sunscreens do not offer protection from UVA radiation, a form of ultraviolet sunlight that is just as harmful as the ultraviolet B (UVB) rays that most current sunscreens protect against.

It also identified 134 products that offer very good sun protection with ingredients that present minimal health risks to users.

SPF, or Sun Protection Factor, is a measurement of how well a sunscreen will protect skin from UVB rays, the kind of radiation that causes sunburn. If your skin would normally burn after 10 minutes in the sun, for example, wearing an SPF 15 sunscreen would theoretically allow you to stay in the sun for 150 minutes (10 x 15) without burning.

However, the SPF rating can be confusing and misleading at times since the scale is not linear. SPF 50 does not prevent burns two-thirds times longer than a SPF 30, and in fact blocks only about 1.3% more UVB radiation than the SPF 30.

More importantly, the SPF rating tells you nothing about the sunscreen’s ability to protect against the also harmful UVA radiation.
Now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which in 1999 set the standards for formulating, testing and labelling of sunscreen products that protect against UVB rays, is proposing a new regulation for products offering UVA protection.

The FDA’s August 23rd announcement was labelled long overdue by the EWG.

“The proposed sunscreen safety regulations by the FDA are a positive step forward, but we’ve been here before and seen FDA cave in to industry objections,” said Jane Houlihan, vice-president for research at EWG.

“FDA first pledged to implement federal safety sunscreen regulations over 28 years ago and to date nothing has been finalized,” she added. “We hope this time FDA moves much faster so the public can have confidence in the claims that they see on sunscreen product labels.”

Under the proposed regulation, a scale of one to four stars will provide a rating system for UVA protection. One star will represent low UVA protection, two stars medium protection, three stars high protection, and four stars the highest available protection.

In addition, sunscreens that offer no UVA protection will have to be labelled such on the container near the SPF value.

The FDA is also proposing a warning statement be added to all sunscreen products. The warning will say: “UV exposure from the sun increases the risk of skin cancer, premature skin aging, and other skin damage. It is important to decrease UV exposure by limiting time in the sun, wearing protective clothing, and using a sunscreen.”

The warning is intended to increase awareness that sunscreens are only one part of a sun protection program.

Since the FDA is accepting public comment on the new rule until November 26, 2007, the EWG is urging everyone to tell the FDA to finalize and implement its proposed standards ASAP.

Your comment must be identified with Docket No. 1978N-0038 and can be submitted electronically at www.fda.gov/dockets/ecomments.

Think of it as a way of making your moments in the sun more healthy and safe.

Michael Jessen is a Nelson eco-writer.