The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released their annual sunscreen scare report to help mislead consumers about how to take care of their skin. On the 24th of May, the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group sent out a press release stating that retinyl palmitate (a form of vitamin A) in sunscreens is linked to skin cancer and tumor growth. Not surprisingly, within hours of the release we received a flurry of emails from concerned consumers. Once again, the EWG has propagated incomplete, ridiculous information under the guise of being consumer watchdogs—and once again lots of consumers are eyeing their sunscreens with the same suspicion they’d normally reserve for an unmarked vat of toxic chemicals.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) was implicated in this report, with the basic sentiment being that the risks associated with retinyl palmitate and skin damage was something they were aware of yet failed to warn the public about. Reading the EWG report, you’d think a large percentage of sunscreen-wearing consumers would be stricken with cancer (never mind that sun exposure in and of itself is the most potent carcinogen we’re exposed to on a daily basis) by the very products they’re using in good faith to prevent this disease. In fact, the EWG report points to the increased use of sunscreen as the cause for the increase in current skin cancer cases. This is the very definition of stupidity. The real reason for rising skin cancer rates is the simple fact that today’s skin cancer cases are the result of decades of long-term unprotected sun exposure. There’s also the fact that research shows only 10% of the population even uses sunscreen on a regular basis. 10%! Now that’s a statistic worthy of a press release!

The EWG’s assertions about sunscreen efficacy flies in the face of hundreds of published, peer-reviewed studies from medical and research centers all over the world proving sunscreen can prevent skin cancer as well as wrinkles and skin discolorations.

In terms of vitamin A in sunscreens being a concern, the EWG seems to be completely ignorant of the fact that retinyl palmitate is one of the primary sources of antioxidant protection found naturally in skin (Source: Toxicology and Industrial Health, May 2006, pages 181–191).

The Personal Care Products Council, lead by former FDA chief John Bailey (himself a scientist), was quick to respond to the allegations in the EWG’s report. This group represents the global cosmetic and personal care industry, and is on the leading edge of not only product innovation, but of safety. Here are the highlights you must know:

Sunscreens: General Info

• The safety and efficacy of sunscreen products have been thoroughly studied and tested by scientists and regulatory authorities throughout the world.

• There is an extensive body of research supporting the safety and efficacy of commercially-available sunscreen actives—far too much to list here.

• Daily use of a well-formulated sunscreen rated SPF 15 or greater is recommended not only by the FDA, but by the American Academy of Dermatology, the Skin Cancer Foundation, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

• Sunscreens in the U.S. are regulated as over-the-counter (OTC) drugs by the FDA and must undergo pre-market approval that involves rigorous scientific assessment including safety and efficacy substantiation according to FDA standards. You will be pleased to know that these standards are among the most rigorous in the world.

The EWG’s Inaccurate Sunscreen Assertions

• EWG’s statements against sunscreens are in direct conflict with the established scientific and FDA safety assessments of sunscreen products and their ingredients. This includes scientific and regulatory bodies in the European Union, Canada, and several other countries.

• According to the Personal Care Products Council, the EWG has invented its own method for calculating how much protection a sunscreen provides; however, this system is “based on very questionable scientific methodology” that has “proven to be inaccurate and unreliable by sunscreen experts around the world.”

• Dermatologist Dr. Zoe Draelos had the following comments about the EWG’s latest report: “I think it’s very sad. A lot of their sunscreen recommendations are based on very old technology, and some of the best sunscreens on the market have newer chemicals that are much more effective. A lot of their opinions are not keeping pace with technology and an understanding of the science of these formulations.”

Vitamin A Isn’t Going to Give You Cancer
Here are the key facts about vitamin A (including the retinyl palmitate form) and sunscreen use that you need to know:

• Retinyl palmitate is approved by the FDA as a food additive, as an over-the-counter (OTC) drug, and a prescription drug. To achieve premarket approval, the FDA requires extensive and rigorous testing. This vitamin wouldn’t be widely used if pre-market tests showed it to be carcinogenic (cancer-causing).

• According to the Personal Care Products Council statement, “In 2000, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) published a notice stating that it would study the potential of retinyl palmitate to enhance UV radiation-induced photocarcinogenisity. While the study is listed as ‘in progress,’ the NTP recently released preliminary data on their Web site; scientific peer review of the entire study is now scheduled for late 2010 or early 2011. Peer review is essential before the results of a study can be accurately interpreted or used to support conclusions. It must be noted that this NTP study was not designed to study retinyl palmitate in the presence or absence of sunscreen formulations.” Therefore, the EWG reached their conclusion based on preliminary, inconclusive data.

• A truly credible scientific organization would never evaluate such preliminary data and make recommendations based upon it, especially those that lead to consumer confusion and fear (with fear being what the EWG seems to thrive on).

• Retinyl palmitate has been shown in UVB exposure studies to offer sun protection all by itself, and it is a potent antioxidant (Sources: International Journal of Pharmaceutics, October 2007, pages 181–189; and Journal of Investigative Dermatology, November 2003, pages 1,163–1,167).

• In vitro (test tube) research showed that pure vitamin A (retinol) has a mutagenic effect on cultured skin cells when exposed to UV light. However, the conclusion reached was as follows: “Vitamin A in the skin resides in a complex environment that in many ways is very different from the chemical environment in solution and in vitro test systems. Relevant clinical studies or studies in animal models are therefore needed to establish whether the pro-oxidant activity of photoexcited vitamin A is observed in vivo [on human skin], and to assess the related risks.”

• The studies examining vitamin A’s role in the presence of UV light did not involve the use of a well formulated sunscreen or credible sunscreen actives. Although damaging effects upon exposure to UV light were tied to vitamin A, there was no comparison to see what would happen if the lab samples were treated with sunscreen prior to UV exposure (Sources: Toxicology and Industrial Health, November 2007, pages 625–631; Toxicology Letters, May 2006, pages 30–43; and International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, June 2006, pages 185–190).

• We know that vitamin A is an antioxidant, and we also know that antioxidants break down in the presence of sunlight, generating by-products that can potentially cause damage. This is how antioxidants work to protect your skin from the greater source of damage, which is sunlight—and it’s precisely why daily sunscreen use is essential!

The EWG’s Own Conflict of Interest

You may have noticed that the EWG recommends a small percentage of sunscreens. But did you also notice that the sunscreens they recommend as safe are available for purchase via links from their site? By linking to the sunscreen manufacturer’s Web site and making a purchase, you are adding to the financial coffers of the EWG, giving them the support they need to continue these unfounded, needlessly alarming reports. This represents the EWG’s commercial interest; they only want you to purchase the sunscreens that they think are safe (and they leave out hundreds of sunscreens we know to be perfectly safe and effective). If they were really concerned about your health and well-being, they would be more open to presenting accurate, peer-reviewed information and would have to admit that their stance on sunscreens is mostly without merit.

In summation, there is no credible, substantiated reason to avoid using sunscreens that contain any form of vitamin A, including retinyl palmitate. Following the EWG’s advice about sunscreen use and which sunscreens are safe not only severely limits your options, but is not based on criteria that even a novice scientist would consider wise.

I have been in London and Amsterdam the past two weeks meeting with beauty reporters from both magazines and newspapers. It has been fascinating. One meeting in particular got me thinking about self-tanners especially now that spring and then summer are approaching.

I was introduced to a reporter who simply had on the worst application of self tanner I had seen in a long time. She had it streaked all over her hands and her face had a strange, dull, orange-looking color, and overall it just made her look sickly. Clearly not the effect she was going after!

I’m not sure what went wrong with her application and I just didn’t have the heart to ask (maybe she didn’t know it looked terrible and would feel insulted and you definitely don’t want to upset a reporter over a personal issue like that). Nonetheless, it got me thinking about the self-tanner I formulated for my Paula’s Choice line of skin-care products. My question is, why apply self-tanner at all?

There certainly are women who know how to apply self-tanner beautifully and it is absolutely the only way to achieve a safe tan (getting tan from the sun, even a little bit is damaging to skin, causing wrinkles, skin discolorations, and increases your risk of getting skin cancer significantly). I even offer a detailed step by step for applying self-tanner on my web site. BUT, why change your skin color at all? Why not love your natural skin color? Why go through the trouble of becoming brown when the shade of skin you have is beautiful as is? Artificial brown (or even getting brown from the sun—God forbid) is not any more beautiful than the real tone of your skin.

Have you noticed that over the past 10 years or so models and Hollywood actresses don’t show up with tans any more? They all wear their own skin color accented with simple to alluring makeup applications. My personal thanks and accolades to those wonderful women for showing us the way.

As an aside, you may wonder why I’m advocating loving the skin color you were born with but freely admit to that I see nothing wrong with coloring my hair (I don’t like my gray hair) and wearing makeup (I do like the feeling of “being a girl” and the glamour part too). On one level that sounds hypocritical, but using self-tanner to change one’s skin color encourages the notion of tanning itself, and the more we encourage the idea that tanned skin is more beautiful than un-tanned skin, the more women will justify risking their skin’s health (and their lives) to reach that dangerous ideal.

So rather than struggling with applying self-tanner (which is a tricky endeavor at best), consider going au naturale by not getting a tan either from a self-tanner and definitely not the sun. I won’t mind if my sales of self-tanner suffer a bit if by doing that, you experience loving how naturally beautiful your skin color is. What a great way to enjoy summer.

I recently visited my hometown to see my family before the holidays. While there, I met with a high school friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in nearly 15 years (where does the time go?). As we caught up on each other’s lives,  naturally we discussed what’s going on with several of our former classmates. I asked about our friend Joanne, as I had lost touch with her and noticed she wasn’t on Facebook (and these days, who isn’t on Facebook?). My friend paused and then revealed some sobering news: Joanne died in August 2006, at age 32, the victim of melanoma. I was stunned. Joanne was a bright, effervescent woman with a quick wit and sense of sly sarcasm that made many boring yet required high school courses much more bearable. I looked forward to seeing her in class and passing her in the hallway, where we’d often make each other laugh with just a silly glance.

As I took this news in, I realized one thing that didn’t click right away: Joanne was a sun worshipper. In fact, my friend mentioned that on sunny days, the two of them would often skip class and lay out on the beach at Lake Lansing, slathered in suntan oil. Joanne had naturally blonde hair and dark eyes, a combination that, along with her light skin tone, allowed her to tan after she became sufficiently freckled. I recalled her stating that she wanted to stay dark enough so that “all the freckles connected”. I also recalled being jealous of how dark she could get. Being lighter than her, it used to bother me that my attempts at tanning were basically useless (not to mention painful) and, as a lucky result, tanning became practice I quickly abandoned despite the pressure to not be pale.

Unfortunately, Joanne learned the hard way that keeping a tan at all costs can end up costing a person their life. Melanoma is the rarest form of skin cancer, but its numbers are on the rise, especially among young women who continue tanning (whether in the sun or, even worse, in tanning beds). The death rate for melanoma is startlingly high: 79% of those diagnosed will succumb. Melanoma is also the second most common cancer in women between the ages of 25–30, though the median age of diagnosis is 45, a time when it may be too late to stop the spread of this deadly skin disease.

Next summer, when the Seattle clouds clear and the rain dissipates, I’ll be paying extra attention to playing it safe in the sun—and thankful for the knowledge I’ve gained after working so closely with Paula on the topic of how sun exposure damages our skin.

Joanne, wherever you are, I hope you’re still making people laugh. You are missed and your untimely passing will serve as a powerful reminder to all who knew you as they consider how to protect their skin from the sun. Joanne’s family left this as her final message: “Wear your sunscreen, hats, protective clothing. DON’T DIE TO BE TAN! Stay away from tanning booths and beds! It’s not just a little spot you have removed and live on. This is a DEADLY BEAST.” I couldn’t agree more!

I will be the first to admit it- I used to be a tanorexic. I look back at pictures and realize I had darker skin than a Chocolate Labrador! And trust me, my true skin color is no where that level of tan.

My days of sun-worshipping began as a child when my summers were spent playing in the pool for hours and coming out with some very distinct tan lines. The idea of applying sunscreen was a foreign concept to my parents. That stuff was just for pale red heads right? Then during my teen years I became obsessed with tan skin, thinking that if I got dark enough my blemishes would be camouflaged, and maybe even dry out. So the vicious cycle began- tanning beds, laying out and lathering on baby oil, hours of softball practice with no sunscreen. I even had so-called “tan offs” with my friends to see who could get the darkest by summer’s end. By this point I knew the dangers of skin cancer, but I had the mentality that it wouldn’t happen to me, and if it did, oh well we are all going to die of cancer somehow if we live long enough. (I know, some of you want to kick me right now! I would kick me if I could go back in time.) All of this carried on through my college years and well…even up until a couple months ago.

You see, I had a job interview with a world-renowned beauty and skin care expert- you guessed it, Paula herself. Near the end of our interview she stopped and asked “How do you feel about losing your tan?” At first, I thought she was making a reference about how hard I would be working, being clammed up in my office and not seeing the light of day. Instead, Paula went on to explain her views on sun damage and handed me her book, The Original Beauty Bible, 3rd Edition. Despite her disparaging comments about my sun-induced skin color, she hired me anyway.

Turning the pages of that book began a life-changing chapter in my relationship with the sun. It may seem like I’m being a bit melodramatic but the truth is, I had been in denial and had never taken the time to truly consider the extent of damage I was doing to my body. Not only did I find out that skin cancer is much more common than I originally thought, but that I was also setting myself up for melasma (brown sun spots), wrinkling, and severe skin aging. I was disturbed when I read that the physical results of sun damage typically do not start to show up until over the age of 30. That means that for the last 25 years that I thought I was invincible, I wasn’t, and I will pay for it sooner rather than later. But by far, my biggest eye-opener was that the sun’s rays are harmful rain or shine, winter or summer. When I realized that UVA rays can penetrate through a window, I was even more shocked! It may not seem like a big deal in the moment, but think about that over a lifespan and imagine the toll it can take on your physical appearance and health.

Now, I don’t want all this to be doom and gloom. I wrote this in the hopes that I could catch the attention of others who have been in denial about their tanning habits and help them to come to the same realization that I did- it’s just not worth it! Let’s face it, most of us like to get a tan for vanity reasons, but you won’t be looking so hot down the road with wrinkly, discolored skin or scars from skin cancer removal. Yes, there is a certain extent of sun damage that is irreversible, but the good news the sooner you start the change, the more you can prevent further damage, decrease the odds of developing skin cancer and lessen the potential signs of aging. First line of defense: wear sunscreen EVERYDAY!

And guess what… thanks to a vast improvement with self-tanners and bronzers on the market you can still look tan when you want to.

I received an email the other day from a woman who wrote to thank us for our advice about using sunscreen and the importance of sun protection. We get complimentary messages like this every so often (and they never fail to delight and motivate us), but this one stood out. The timing of the message coinciding with our latest special report on the best sunscreens plus the fact that it’s summer all coalesced and made this email stand out. Why? Because the dear woman who wrote in included a picture of herself after having had a skin cancer removed from her face. As you will see from the photo below (which she graciously granted us permission to as a powerful visual reminder about the importance of sun protection), removing her skin cancer resulted in a scar in a conspicuous place. Here is the note she sent to us, followed by some additional comments from me:

Paula,
I just read your latest report on sun protection and the guide for the best sunscreens. I wish I had had this information years ago when I was in my early 20’s and thought a tan made me look better. Instead, I believed that using sunscreen just kept me from getting a great tan, so I didn’t bother with it.

Needless to say, here I am at age 57 and am paying the price. Just thought I would send you this picture of what I went through a couple months ago having a tiny basal cell carcinoma removed from my face. Now I’m scarred for life. I NEVER go out without applying sunscreen, but the damage is already done. Hopefully I will not have any more of these skin cancers pop up. I take such good care of my skin now; you can tell from my picture (with no makeup on) that I don’t have any wrinkles thanks to what I learned from you. However, I’m so embarrassed now about the scar down the front of my face.

Please keep up the good work of keeping people informed on the need of using a good sunscreen.

Name withheld by request

This woman’s story of regret and what happened to her after years without sun protection should prompt all of us, whether we want to admit or not, to confront the fact that the sun can cause what no one wants to have: cancer. No matter how good the sun feels on a temperate blue-sky day or how gorgeous you think you look with a deep, dark tan, it’s a sobering fact that the sun can (and does) kill us. Of course, simply applying a well-formulated sunscreen rated SPF 15 or above allows us to enjoy the positive aspects of the sun while severely minimizing its potential to cause damage. Personally, I don’t avoid the sun as much as I enjoy it responsibly, like many other things in life.
I want to thank this woman for sharing her story and photo. I hope it resonates with anyone reading this blog who doesn’t use sun protection or, for whatever reason, continues to tan. Skin cancer isn’t the automatic inevitable outcome of sun damage for everyone, but playing roulette with the health and appearance of your skin is not a bet worth making.