The high-SPF scam

People expect too much from products with an SPF higher than 50.

by Sonya Lunder

Theoretically, applying sunscreen with a sun protection factor — SPF — of 100 would allow beachgoers to bare their skin 100 times longer before the sun burns it. Someone who would normally redden after 30 minutes in the midday sun could stay out for 50 hours.

But for high-SPF sunscreens, theory and reality are two two different things. Many studies have found that people are misled by the claims on high-SPF sunscreen bottles. They are more likely to use high SPF products improperly and as a result may expose themselves to more harmful ultraviolet radiation than people relying on products with lower SPF.

The reason: People trust these products too much. There are four key strikes against SPF values greater than 50:

1. Marginally better sunburn protection
Sunbathers often assume that they get twice as much protection from SPF 100 sunscreen as from SPF 50.  In reality, the extra protection is negligible. Properly applied SPF 50 sunscreen blocks 98 percent of sunburn rays; SPF 100 blocks 99 percent. When used correctly, sunscreen with SPF values in the range of 30 to 50 will offer strong sunburn protection, even for people most sensitive to sunburn.

2. Poorer balance
The chemicals that form a product’s sun protection factor are aimed at blocking ultraviolet B rays, which are the primary cause of sunburn and non-melanoma skin cancers such as squamous cell carcinoma (von Thaler 2010). Ultraviolet A rays penetrate deeper into the skin and are harder to block with sunscreen ingredients approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for use in US sunscreens.  Scientists know less about the dangers of UVA radiation, but the general consensus is that it is less obvious than UVB damage but possibly more serious.

A sunscreen lotion’s SPF rating has little to do with the product’s ability to shield the skin from UVA rays. As a result of the FDA’s restrictions on ingredients and concentrations, US sunscreens offer far less protection against UVA than UVB, particularly those products with the highest SPF.  Because UVA and UVB protection do not harmonize, high-SPF products suppress sunburn but not other types of sun damage.

3. Consumers misuse high-SPF products
High-SPF products tend to lull users into staying in the sun longer and overexposing themselves to both UVA and UVB rays. Imbued with a false sense of security, people extend their time in the sun well past the point when users of low-SPF products head indoors. As a result, they get as many UVB-inflicted sunburns as unprotected sunbathers and are likely to absorb more damaging UVA radiation.

Philippe Autier, a scientist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is affiliated with the World Health Organization, has conducted numerous studies on sunbathers and believes that high-SPF products spur “profound changes in sun behavior” that may account for the increased melanoma risk found in some studies. In two studies Autier confirmed that European vacationers spent more total time in the sun if they were given an SPF 30 sunscreen instead of an SPF 10 product (Autier 1999, 2000).

4. High-SPF products have greater risks to health
High-SPF products require higher concentrations of sun-filtering chemicals than low-SPF sunscreens. Some of these ingredients may pose health risks when they penetrate the skin, where they have been linked to tissue damage and potential hormone disruption. Some may trigger allergic skin reactions.  If studies showed that high-SPF products were better at reducing skin damage and skin cancer risk, that extra chemical exposure might be justified. But they don’t, so choosing sunscreens with lower concentrations of active ingredients — SPF 30 instead of SPF 70, for example — is prudent.

The sunscreen industry has defended high-SPF sunscreens as a way to combat consumer misuse (Ou-Yang 2012). Numerous studies show that sunscreen users apply just one-fifth to a one-half the quantity of sunscreen the maker recommends. When someone applies only 25 percent of the ideal amount of SPF 30, the sunburn protection on the skin is actually only 2.3. Someone who applies SPF 100 sparingly can wind up with a functional SPF as low as 3.2.  In the real world, these products are less effective than T-shirts, which generally have and SPF of 5.

EWG believes that manufacturers should stop selling high-SPF products altogether. Only then can consumers have clear, straightforward information about what’s in the bottle and how to use it to protect themselves.

The FDA has long contended that SPF higher than 50 is “inherently misleading” (FDA 2007). Australian authorities cap SPF values at 30;  European and Japanese regulators at 50 (Osterwalder 2009b).  In  2011, the FDA proposed a regulation to prohibit labels higher than SPF 50+,  but the agency has not completed work on this rule and put it into force.

High-SPF sunscreens are popular — and lucrative.  Sales of high-SPF products have been on the rise for at least a decade, so it’s no wonder that sunscreen makers are fighting to keep selling them. About 1-in-7 beach and sport sunscreens in EWG’s 2013 database advertises SPF values higher than 50+.  That’s virtually no change from the proportion of high-SPF products in last year’s sunscreen database.

© Environmental Working Group, ewg.org. Reprinted with permission.

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