by Julie Gabriel

Created on: January 20, 2009

Is your sunscreen getting you sunburns? Quite possibly. For how else can you explain the meteoric rise of skin cancers in countries where sunscreens are heavily propagated, and everyone slathers cupfuls of sunscreens each time they see a ray of sunlight?

A study by the Environmental Working Group found that one in every eight name-brand sunscreens offers virtually zero protection against UVA rays which cause sunburns and ultimately lead to skin cancer. UVA radiation causes premature aging at a somewhat slower rate than the others, but this type of radiation causes melanoma, a very dangerous type of skin cancer. UVA is not blocked by many conventional sunscreens but can be effectively blocked by physical sunscreens and clothing.

SPF, or sun protection rating, only measures the sunscreen's effectiveness in blocking ultraviolet B (UVB) rays.

The incidence of sunburns has increased in the United States, a sign the many people aren't using proper sun protection. A recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that sunburn rates increased from 31.8 percent to 33.7 percent from 1999 to 2004.

The National Cancer Institute estimates there will be 62,480 new cases of melanoma in the United States in 2008, and about 8,420 deaths caused by the disease. By comparison, there will be more than 1 million new cases of non-melanoma skin cancers in 2008, with fewer than 1,000 deaths.

Worldwide, the countries where chemical sunscreens have been recommended and adopted have experienced the greatest rise in skin cancers, with a simultaneous rise in death rates. In the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Scandinavian countries, melanoma rates have skyrocketed, with the greatest increase occurring after the introduction of sunscreens at the end of the 1970s. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, death rates in the United States from melanoma doubled in women and tripled in men between the 1950s and the 1990s; yet melanoma remains a relatively rare type of cancer, killing twenty times fewer people than lung cancer.

Could it be that sunscreens promote skin cancers instead of preventing them? Absolutely not, but there is something about sunscreens that needs careful attention. One explanation could be the ineffectiveness of sunscreens made in the 1980s and 1990s. Older formulations did not provide protection from all spectrums of the sun's radiation. Those sunscreens shielded more from burning UVB rays but did almost nothing about the more

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