Time to catch up


Seahorse readers will by now be familiar with the growing number of images we publish that include instances of some of the world’s best-known racing sailors competing while wrapped up like desert nomads. There is good reason for that of course; even so, the full extent of the active racer’s risk of sun-induced damage can still fairly be described as less than fully appreciated. Associate Professor of Dermatology at the Medical College of Wisconsin Edit Olasz Harken looks at both the risks to ourselves and at the steadily growing side-effects on the waters on which we compete 50 SEAHORSE


‘Sunscreen is the new margarine’, ‘Hawaii just banned your favourite sunscreen to protect its coral reefs’, ‘Is your sunscreen poisoning you?’ – these and similar head- lines have been creating a lot of buzz in the news lately. Sunscreen is a hot topic and the closer one gets to it nowadays the hotter it becomes – you may even crash and burn like Icarus, who ignored his father’s advice and flew close to the sun on wings made of feathers and wax. Luckily dermatologists (like myself),


sunscreen manufacturers, marine biolo- gists and scientists studying potential bene- fits and harms of sunscreens at least agree on one fact: applying a proven sunscreen will reduce your exposure to burning from the sun. They may even agree that proper use of sunscreen decreases the risk of skin cancer, although with a lot of ifs and buts. The rest, frankly, is becoming a field of


controversies where the battle of opposing and usually polarised opinions plays out gruesomely, creating the type of social


media havoc that has unfortunately per- meated our world lately. So much is going on that the American


Academy of Dermatology has recently decided to fund independent research to investigate the claims about the coral- harming effects of certain chemical UV filters commonly present in sunscreens. Furthermore, in February the US Food


and Drug Administration published its own new proposed sunscreen regulatory guidelines: of 16 active ingredients cur- rently used in popular sunscreens only zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are GRASE (generally recognised as safe and effective); the FDA requested more detail on another 12 ingredients; the final two ingredients are not GRASE because of safety issues. Tropospheric ultraviolet


radiation


(TUV/UVR) that reaches the earth’s surface consists mainly of long wavelength ultraviolet A (UVA) (320-400nm) radia- tion and only a minority (estimated five per cent) of short wavelength ultraviolet B


MARTINA ORSINI


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