May 24 (THAINDIAN NEWS) According to a new report which was written on the effects of the 500 most popular sunscreens on today’s market, almost half of those may actually be increasing the speed at which the malignant cancers would grow, spreading skin cancer, since they have Vitamin ‘A’ or derivatives from it in them. According to the study, only 39 of the 500 products which were tested actually turned out to be safe.

AOL News is reporting that they have learned through documents and interviews that the United States Food and Drug Administration had been aware of the potential dangers of these sunscreens for at least 10 years, but had failed to act on the news. The reports were filed by a nonprofit organization known as the “Environmental Working Group” (EWG) whose goal is to “expose threats to your health and the environment, and to find solutions”. Their reports states that these are problems with sunscreens which they have discovered:

* Bogus sun protection factor (SPF) numbers
* The use of the hormone-disrupting chemical oxybenzone, which penetrates the skin and enters the bloodstream.
* Overstated claims about performance.
* The lack of needed regulations and oversight by the Food and Drug Administration.

And most importantly, the discovery that Vitamin ‘A’ and it’s derivatives, retinol, and retinyl palmitate actually can speed up cancer causing factors which are supposed to be stopped by sunscreen. “In that yearlong study, tumors and lesions developed up to 21 percent faster in lab animals coated in a vitamin A-laced cream than animals treated with a vitamin-free cream,” the report said.

Reports released from the FDA and posted on their own website show that they were aware of the cancer causing effects of retinyl, since they cite in a report released last fall that animal testing was done at their Jefferson Ark, National Center for Toxicological Research, and scientists from the FDA as well as the National Toxicology Program conducted it. In a report on the study it was stated :”Retinyl palmitate was selected by (FDA’s) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition for photo-toxicity and photocarcinogenicity testing based on the increasingly widespread use of this compound in cosmetic retail products for use on sun-exposed skin,” far earlier than the release last fall, this report was done in October of 2000. Patients who are taking retinol containing creams and drugs to combat acne and such have been cautioned for over 10 years to stay out of the sun while on the types of drugs, so one has to wonder, how could the FDA not know? For a list of the EWG’s top recommended sunscreens visit this site.