The EWG Asks: Why Are Sunscreens Unsafe?

Another Wild West that consumers have to deal with? Sunscreens. (Click here to read a past post I wrote about sunscreens.)

The Environmental Working Group helps us wade through the confusion with its sunscreen guide. Click here to learn more.

Also, I just received this email from EWG and signed the petition:

Why doesn't the government ensure that [sunscreens] are safe?

Even in its fifth season, EWG can only recommend one in five of the more than 600 sunscreens in its guide. That means 80 percent of what's been analyzed either doesn't provide adequate protection or contains potentially hazardous ingredients.

The fact that sunscreen manufacturers can market products that don't work -- or may actually cause harm to people who use them -- is utterly unbelievable.

The FDA hasn't issued any new sunscreen safety regulations for more than 30 years. EWG Action Fund is heading to the FDA next week to tell it to finally do its job to protect the American people. We are trying to get 50,000 signatures to take with us, will you be one of them? Act by Thursday at midnight.

Join EWG Action Fund and me in telling our government it needs to protect us from sunscreens that don't work or contain potentially dangerous ingredients. Sign by June 9 -- before we deliver your signatures to the FDA.

The government simply isn't overseeing the sunscreen industry.

When I tell people that those super-high SPF ratings are bogus, they can't believe it. They often ask: "Why isn't the government doing anything about it?" Good question. Why isn't it?

When you think of all the families that search for safe products that provide proper protection from the sun and that don't contain harmful ingredients, it's shocking that the FDA hasn't yet taken action on this issue. We can make better purchasing decisions, but we cannot shop our way out of this mess.

We need to get risky and inadequate products off the market.

Stand with EWG Action Fund and me in demanding the FDA address sunscreen safety today. Our best tool for sun protection is knowing which products can help us -- not hurt us.

Let's get our government on board so we can feel confident in the sunscreen products we buy for ourselves and our families.