Most Sunscreens Aren't Safe and Effective, Study Finds
Here's what they found.
Summer is fast approaching, and with Memorial Day right around the corner, it's time to start getting your beach bag together with the essentials. Sunscreen is a crucial component of any successful day in the sun, but which one we use can have very different effects.
Every year, the Environmental Working Group releases its Guide to Sunscreens, which determines the sun products with the safest ingredients and adequate sun protection. For its 2024 report, the nonprofit looked at more than 1,700 SPF products and found that just one in four meet the group's ingredient safety and sun protection efficacy standards.
It's a troubling trend as the sunscreen industry remains stalled as the Food and Drug Administration has yet to finalize its proposed regulatory changes for the industry. The FDA updating its requirements would force manufacturers to improve UVA protection, limit SPF values to 60+, and provide more transparency on certain ingredients or risk being pulled off shelves. For its part, the FDA claims that there isn't enough data on many of the active ingredients used in sunscreen, so they can't classify them as safe.
Related: 7 Best Face Sunscreens of 2024 That Protect and Nourish Your Skin
The EWG's safest-rated products largely don't venture above an SPF rating of 50. While a higher SPF might indicate overall greater protection from the sun's harmful rays, it's not the end-all, be-all, as the difference in protection from UVB rays between SPF 50 and SPF 100 is about one percent.
If you're in the market for some new sunscreen, check out EWG's guide and find out what works best for you and your family.