T&T: Best sunscreen, more info

[Dale Kern]

Jeff, fellow boaters,

Sorry,
I just can't let this pass with additional info.

For almost 40 years I have been an R&D scientist focused on biochemistry and
immunology.  Currently I develop technologies and products for a company
selling products in 47 countries.  I hold numerous patents, have published
numerous scientific articles and I am currently collaborating on projects with
Harvard Dermatology, Stanford Dermatology, Purdue, Univ. of Oklahoma, Univ. of
Wisconsin, etc.

I DO NOT work for P&G, Neutrogena, Coppertone, L'Oreal, Estee Lauder or other
large retail skin care company.

Regarding sunscreens:

1)	Sunscreens are regulated by the U.S. FDA as an Over-The-Counter drug (OTC).
They are drugs.  As such sunscreens must contain the active ingredients
specified by the FDA.  Currently those are listed in the FDA document called a
Tentative Final Monograph for sunscreens.  All manufacturers who place a claim
of SPF on their product MUST meet the requirements of the monograph.  This
involves extensive testing.
2)	In my professional opinion, the Environmental Working Group seeks to alarm
with partial information and disinformation to support their environmental
agenda.  The more people they alarm, the more money they receive to their
lobby group.  By many they are considered a radical group.
3)	All studies conducted are not equal.  The challenge in reading the
scientific literature is in understanding the methodology, the limitations of
the study and applicability of the study.  There are serious questions
regarding the conduct of the EWG study on sunscreens.
4)	Stay out of the sun.  Wear protective clothing.  Wear a sunscreen.  Reapply
sunscreen often.  Visit your dermatologist regularly and regularly have
someone check out areas that you can't see.  Wear sunscreen lip balm.  Wear
sunglasses with UV protection.
5)	Don't forget your pets.  My dog wore sunglasses when outdoors in high sun.
At 14 years of age he had no corneal or lens clouding.  I even put sunscreen
on the flesh-colored area of his nose where there was very little black
pigment.
6)	I trust any sunscreen made by a major skin care company.  They have spent
hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to develop their products
according to FDA guidelines and tests.  I use Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch
SPF 45 (Neutrogena has 19 suncare products to choose from) or Coppertone Sport
(or Coppertone Nutrashield as an alternative).  Check out L'Oreal products,
Estee Lauder and others.  They will have good products as well.
7)	Wash off the sunscreen when indoors or before evening.  Realize that
sunscreens can take the gloss off of some wood finishes, discolor plastics,
stain fabrics and yellow sails.  I have a nice set of artistic hand prints on
my mainsail courtesy of a visitor.
8)	Your skin has defense mechanisms for UV.  Eat colorful fruits and
vegetables, drink green tea, a little red wine now and then and maintain good
nutrition.
9)	Refuse to become paranoid about fun in the sun.  Just do it with sound
precautions.

Sorry about the long post.  But this is a very important health issue that is
and will be even more, a major impact on our health care system.

I had a much longer post but it was rejected.  Email off line if you care to
converse further or seek additional information.

Dale
Promised Wind, Cat. 34
Utah


-----Original Message-----
From: trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces at lists.samurai.com
[mailto:trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces at lists.samurai.com] On Behalf Of
Jeffrey Siegel
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 9:53 PM
To: trawlers-and-trawlering at lists.samurai.com
Subject: Re: T&T: Best sunscreen

The topic of sunscreen seems like it should be simple.  Just put it on.
Especially for us boaters.  And it needs to be used every day if you
have any chance of exposure.

But the reality is that it is way more complex of an issue.  Sunscreens
aren't regulated and it's pretty hard to know if the product you're
using actually works.  In addition, it's a material that you're placing
on large areas of your skin for long periods of time.  Those materials
are getting absorbed into your system and accumulating in your body.
And guess what?  Some of the materials used in many of the common
sunscreens have questionable safety levels.  Some are considered toxic.

The Environmental Working Group did a huge study of more than 700
sunscreen products.  They found, amazingly, that 84% of the products
with an SPF of 15 or higher don't adequately protect you or contain
ingredients with safety concerns.  84% !!  I'll fully admit that we had
been using one of the less-than-healthy ones on our boat.  But not any
longer.

There's a small report all about it and a database of all of their
findings:
http://www.ewg.org/node/21719

You don't need to sign up for their newsletter in order to get to the
database.


==================================
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53PH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine

www.activecaptain.com
The Interactive Cruising Guidebook






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