# Sunscreen column ought to be amended **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 19, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunscreen-column-ought-to-be-amended/62588 "2001-04-19T20:47:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Adria](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Adria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adria)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunscreen-column-ought-to-be-amended/62588/1 "2001-04-19T20:47:50Z")
I see that Cecil’s brief discussion of sunscreen has been run again. Since that summer approacheth, and skin cancer rates continue to rise, he really ought to amend that column in at least one significant way: Titanium dioxide and other mechanical sun blocks no longer have to be opaque, so you can get their protection without looking like a clown. Consider the following info: UVA rays are the sun’s silent killers. You don’t feel them but they are the primary cause of skin cancer and wrinkles. (UVA rays also penetrate through clear glass windows.) SPF is crucial, but it is only a measurement regarding sunburn (UVB) rays. There are no numbers to tell you about protection from UVA radiation. Most sunscreens now claim to have both UVA and UVB protection, but only offer protection from about 20% of UVA rays. For real UVA protection you have to check the active ingredient list to see if it contains either zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, avobenzone (which may also be listed as Parsol 1789 or butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane), or Mexoryl SX outside of the US. If one of those isn’t part of active ingredient listing (it doesn’t count if it is just part of the regular ingredients) you will not be getting adequate UVA protection. Skin cancer rates have been increasing ever since sunblock was introduced, which baffled doctors. Researchers are now suggesting that it’s because people stay out in the sun longer than they used to! People think that if they’re not getting a sunburn, then they’re not increasing their risk of skin cancer. For some people, this is a fatal mistake. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2001, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunscreen-column-ought-to-be-amended/62588/2 "2001-04-19T22:02:32Z")
A link to the column is appreciated. [How does sunscreen work?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980717b.html) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2001, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunscreen-column-ought-to-be-amended/62588/3 "2001-04-20T01:19:23Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment. Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site. To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL). Cecil’s column can be found on-line at the link provided by **bibliophage**. * * * moderator, «[**Comments on Cecil’s Columns**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)» ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunscreen-column-ought-to-be-amended/62588/4 "2001-04-20T03:56:57Z")
Checking in from the skin cancer capital of the world, Queensland, Australia! (a perfect confluence of an outdoor lifestyle, the tropics and a whole load of imported white folks). Such is the scepticism regarding the effectiveness of sunscreen that the health authorities here now do not recommend their usage, other than as backup, and recommend that you wear long clothing and a hat at all times. So now you commonly see people at the beach wearing a “sunshirt” (a long sleeved close fitting dark coloured lycra top) even when swimming. And there is a move to SPF rate clothing, as well, because many light coloured shirts are not as sun proof as is generally assumed. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2001, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunscreen-column-ought-to-be-amended/62588/5 "2001-04-20T14:56:10Z")
And here we are all rushing to the side of the boat that’s already gunwale-under. Rickets is on the rise. ---
**Author:** ![AKAmame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@AKAmame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AKAmame)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2001, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunscreen-column-ought-to-be-amended/62588/6 "2001-04-21T10:17:45Z")
Minor nitpick. The rating system for textiles and clothing referred to by **Princhester** , is called UPF, not SPF. The testing procedures are different, with different test endpoints. SPFs are measured on human skin, UPFs are measured using a machine. The results are similar, but not necessarily identical. Rickets, you say, **Mr Kennedy**? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2001, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunscreen-column-ought-to-be-amended/62588/7 "2001-04-21T13:16:10Z")
Rickets is on the rise among infants who are exclusively breast-fed. [http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/rickets000810.html](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/rickets000810.html) > [@](#): > > Doctors nationwide are reporting a small spike in the number of breast-fed babies developing nutritional rickets, Rickets is caused by a lack of vitamin D, which is crucial for strong bone development. It can result in stunted growth, broken bones and bow legs in children. > Breast milk, though an excellent source of nutrition overall, provides little vitamin D. Babies can get the vitamin instead from a splash of sunlight or from a daily supplement. > But rickets may be on the rise, researchers believe, because of the renewed popularity of breast-feeding, along with doctors’ failure to properly prescribe vitamin D supplements to breast-feeding moms. And then there’s this, which made me go “Huh?” in a really major way. > [@](#): > > At special risk are dark-skinned babies, whose pigmentation prevents them from using sunlight to produce the necessary vitamin D. You mean, for the last 50,000 years or so, all those Africans and Aborigines and Andaman Islanders have all been suffering from rickets? 😕 How could _homo sapiens’_ DNA overlook something like that? Or is it just a slanted, stupid interpretation of the results of a very limited study, combined with the media’s urgent need to provide catchy sound bites? > [@](#): > > Doctors at two medical centers in North Carolina report in this month’s issue of the Journal of Pediatrics that they saw 30 cases of rickets in breast-fed black infants from 1990 though 1999, with more than half of the cases occurring in the last 18 months alone. > This June, researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas published a report in the journal Texas Medicine about a recent outbreak of rickets among dark-skinned infants who were breast fed, despite the presence of abundant sunlight in the state. I find the factoid “dark skinned people’s skin can’t manufacture Vitamin D” posted widely, but I can’t find the actual study on the Web, offhand, so I’m going over to GQ to ask. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2001, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunscreen-column-ought-to-be-amended/62588/8 "2001-04-21T17:58:39Z")
…And the Queen of the Search Engines unearths another interesting topic of discussion. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2001, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunscreen-column-ought-to-be-amended/62588/9 "2001-04-22T17:59:59Z")
I’m okay with this now, somebody over in GQ 'splained it to me. I had never heard the “dark skin/rickets” thing. So, huh. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=68301](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=68301) if anybody’s interested. [shrug]