WASHINGTON – Environmental Working Group (EWG) issued the following statement today in response to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) latest proposed federal safety standards for sunscreens. FDA first announced its intention to implement safety standards for sunscreens 28 years ago. To date, none have been finalized. These new proposed regulations would for the first time put a permanent safety standard in place for UVA protection.
“The proposed sunscreen safety regulations by FDA are a positive step forward, but we’ve been here before and seen FDA cave in to industry objections,” said Jane Houlihan, VP for Research at EWG. “FDA first pledged to implement federal safety sunscreen regulations over 28 years ago and to date nothing has been finalized. We hope this time FDA moves much faster so the public can have confidence in the claims that they see on sunscreen product labels.”
Earlier this summer EWG launched the very first online database consumers can use to see which sunscreens provide the best combination of safety and effectiveness. There are currently almost 800 name brand sunscreens in the database. The database was created by EWG in large part because of the lack of any comprehensive federal safety standards by FDA.
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EWG is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, DC that uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment.
