Blumenthal Assails Makers Of Sunscreen

By William Hathaway, The Hartford Courant, Conn.

May 30–Consumers can get burned if they believe sunscreen advertisements that tout super-high sun protection ratings and all-day protection, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday.

For the second straight spring, Blumenthal has sent a scorching letter asking that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ban misleading sunscreen ads that give people a false sense of security about lying in the sun.

“Claims to block out all harmful rays and (to) ‘waterproof’ are mostly truth-proof,” Blumenthal said.

Three separate claims by sunscreen companies has Blumenthal broiling:

That sun protection factors (SPFs) greater than 30 block more harmful sun. Higher SPFs, he said, offer little or no additional protection against the sun’s UVB, or ultra-violet B, rays.

That sunscreens or blocks protect against ultra-violet A, or UVA, rays. There is no system to rank protection against UVA rays, which can penetrate deep into the skin, Blumenthal said.

That sunscreens or blocks offer “all-day protection.” None do, the attorney general said, and they should be reapplied during the course of the day to offer full protection.

The FDA in 1999 updated, but then delayed implementing, rule changes that would have prohibited companies from making misleading sunscreen claims.

“The FDA’s delay is unfathomable and unconscionable,” Blumenthal said.

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