WASHINGTON, D.C – Consumers can now turn to their iPhones to assist them in selecting the most effective sunscreen products with a free application, or App, linked to Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) 2010 Sunscreen Guide. The EWG App is an easy way to check just how safe and effective your sunscreen is. EWG’s Sunscreen Guide ranks the current crop of 500 beach and sport sunscreens with an easy-to-use color coded system: green (recommended), yellow (caution) or red (avoid). To come up with those recommendations, EWG researchers evaluated how well each sunscreen blocks the sun's harmful rays and whether it contains ingredients that could pose other kinds of health risks.
What can users learn by downloading and using the App? The EWG Sunscreen Guide highlights the large number of products making misleading SPF claims above 50+ as well as new disclosures about potentially harmful ingredients. For example, recently developed government data suggests that the common sunscreen ingredient retinyl palmitate, a form of vitamin A, might accelerate development of skin tumors and lesions, and the EWG Guide recommends avoiding products that contain it.
Because of industry’s lackluster performance in improving its sunscreens and the federal Food and Drug Administration’s failure to issue regulations for sunscreens, EWG also reminds consumers not to depend on any sunscreen for primary protection from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. Hats, clothing and shade are still the most reliable sun protection.
Download the free App here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ewg-sunscreen-buyers-guide/id378866183?mt=8
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