Invisible damage
Want to save your skin from damage? Read Sunscreen: The facts and learn how to protect yourself
Think of UVB and UVA radiation as two brothers you once dated. UVB — the wavelength of light that burns your skin and prompts tanning as well as the production of vitamin D — was the ungainly Homer Simpson type who just stained your couch and forgot your birthday. UVA, on the other hand, charmed you with his law degree and Bay Street good looks, then cleaned out your bank account while you were at your mother’s. “UVA is extremely important,” says Cohen. “You never know what hit you because it doesn’t burn. Worse still, it penetrates much deeper into your skin and eyes, and is the main cause of premature aging, cataracts and cancer. It can even penetrate glass — which is a big deal because while you’re sitting around unprotected in your car or by a window, you’re getting damage.”
Not all sunscreens protect you, particularly from UVA
How’s that for a kick in the pants? One minute you think you’re safeguarding your health by spending a wad of cash to look chalky and greasy, the next you’re holding a piece of your nose in your hand screaming, “Why?” “It sounds like the makings of a lawsuit,” chuckles Ottawa-based Kapil Khatter, president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE). “You sit out in the sun with your SPF 60 with little to no UVA protection thinking you’re safe, and yet it’s encouraging you to do things that are unsafe.”
Doctors such as Khatter are pushing for more transparency and better consumer information in the Canadian suncare industry¬ partially because, although Health Canada requires that all sunscreen manufacturers indicate the SPF strength of their products on the label, this measure refers only to the product’s ability to protect you from UVB, not UVA. “At this point in Canada,” says Cohen, “there’s no way to quantify how much UVA protection you’re getting.” Last year, the U.S. Environmental Working Group studied the active ingredients in more than 900 sunscreens and found that 84 per cent of the products were “inadequate.” Shortly after, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a new star rating system — loosely based on one already in use in the U.K., where a sunscreen is given a one- to five-star rating depending on its ratio of UVA to UVB protection. While the European system isn’t perfect, don’t hold your breath for a similar indicator here any time soon.
