Hartford, CT – At 10:30 AM on Wednesday, June 2 at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) will urge the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action to ensure that sunscreen is safe, effective, and properly labeled Sunscreen is a largely unregulated product and with a significant impact on public health. While sunscreen is essential to protecting against skin cancer and is more widely used than ever, the rate of skin cancer cases in the United States continues to increase.
Last week, the Connecticut-based independent testing lab Valisure announced that company tests detected the cancer causing chemical benzene at high levels in 78 sunscreen and after-sun products. This includes household name brands such as Neutrogena, CVS Health, and Banana Boat. Blumenthal is urging the FDA to immediately recall these products and investigate this contamination.
Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, with over 9,500 people a day are diagnosed with skin cancer. Over 90 percent of the 5 million skin cancer diagnoses each year have been linked to ultraviolet (UV) ray exposure. Experts agree that sunscreen is a life-saving product that protects skin from the sun’s potentially harmful UV rays, which does increase the risk of skin cancer and sunburn.
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