Sunscreen Guide - They're Non-Toxic...and They Work!

It seems rather appalling, but there are lots of sunscreens out there that contain chemicals that cause hormone-disruption which puts people at risk for reproductive cancers. What makes that even more appalling is that many of these don't even adequately protect you against skin cancer. In fact, their misleading claims can give consumers a false sense of security that may lead them to get more sun exposure than they would otherwise get.

Since the government has no regulatory guidelines that protect consumers from the exposure to these chemicals, they have to seek other avenues to provide them with research information to keep the "body burden" of chemicals low. In addition, the claims about their ability to protect us from sun damage are significantly off the mark which can lead to sun damage and possibly skin cancer.

The Environmental Working Group, which is a research-based consumer advocacy organization puts a sunscreen guide out each year. This is compiled after review of a product's effectiveness and it's compliance to keeping the chemical burden low. Some of the key elements they are looking for is the use of mineral blockers such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide which provide a broad spectrum protection or chemicals that have been tested low on the hazardous list for creating hormone disruption as well as being more effective at blocking UVA and UVB rays. This information is important for consumers to understand. It could very well save lives. So please pass it on!