New Findings About Sun Care Products for Children

We purchase a sunscreen specially labelled for children and liberally slather it on them before heading outdoors. After two hours you reapply, then relax, knowing your child is safe from the harmful rays that can cause premature aging and skin cancer.

The bad news is your child may not be as protected as you think. Beyond not providing real protection there is the potential toxicity of many of the ingredients.

“I’m primarily concerned with the lack of safety testing,” says Dr. Rebecca Sutton, a staff scientist with the EWG. There is a long list of ingredients that are potentially harmful, or even cancer causing, that we just don’t know enough about.

This is especially of concern when it comes to children. The surface area of a child’s skin relative to their body weight is much greater than adults. Any chemical applied to their skin is about 1.4 times more significant than it would be when applied to an adult. Add that to the fact that children are less able to detoxify and excrete chemicals, they have a developing organ system that is more vulnerable to damage from chemical exposures, and children are more sensitive to low levels of hormonally active compounds and you have a potentially large problem.

As parents, we can’t do anything about the unknowns, but there is one common sunscreen ingredient that has been linked with a host of problems including allergies, hormone disruption and cell damage.

“Parents should also avoid powder and spray sun care,” Sutton says of airborne chemicals potentially dangerous to breathe in. Avoid 2-in-1 combos, like sunscreen mixed with insect repellents.

“You need to apply sunscreen every few hours to be effective and you don’t want to put bug repellent on that often,” says Gray.

Then of course, there are the basic sun safety tips.

“People rely too heavily on sunscreen alone,” Cohen says.

Make sure your child wears a hat and UV-protective clothing and, if possible, avoid direct sunlight during the hours of 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.