The past 50 years have seen rapid evolution in medical opinion on sun exposure. My mother tells stories of spending entire summers lying on the beach coated in baby oil. I recall using sunscreen as a kid, but I also remember that I typically got one really bad sunburn per summer. In contrast, my 3-year-old daughter is not permitted to leave the house without a heavy coating of sunscreen and ideally a large, floppy hat. When she was a baby, I forced her to wear a “bathing suit” with long sleeves and pants.
This change in behavior has been prompted in part by the growth in skin cancer rates, and the increasing recognition that sun exposure and skin cancer are linked. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, treatment of non-melanoma skin cancers in the U.S. increased nearly 77 percent between 1992 and 2006, and melanoma diagnosis increased by 1.9 percent annually between 2000 and 2009.
Dermatologists and pediatricians alike emphasize the importance of avoiding the sun and using sunscreen. But lately we’ve seen the inevitable backlash. Some parents note that they turned out fine despite rarely wearing sunscreen in their youth, and wonder if it’s really necessary to be quite so aggressive in applying it to their own children. Companies hawk sunscreen with ever-higher SPF values, despite the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has acknowledged there is no evidence that raising SPF above 50 makes any difference.
Layered on top of this general skepticism are further health concerns. Sunscreen is made of chemicals, and a selective read of media reports would have one believe that these chemicals cause both cancer and hormone disruption. (“The Dr. Oz Show’s” take on the issue warned, “Your sunscreen might be poisoning you.”)
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