Rochester Melanoma Action Group: Rochester Melanoma Action Group, a 501c3 organizat...

Rochester Melanoma Action Group: Rochester Melanoma Action Group, a 501c3 organizat...: Rochester Melanoma Action Group, a 501c3 organization, was formed in 2011 to increase awareness and raise funds for the fight against melan...



Stop hiding from the sun!  For those of us who have been diagnosed with Melanoma know all to well that fun in the sun comes with a price.  I've learned to enjoy the outdoors again with the help of clothing with UPF 50 sun block and sunscreens that are more user friendly. 

Last year, the Surgeon General declared skin cancer a public-health crisis.  There are now 63,000 new cases each year of melanoma, the deadliest form. While at my dermatologists for my three month check up, I read an encouraging article stating that Congress recently passed the Sunscreen Innovations Act.  It provides timelines for the US Food and Drug Assoc.  to review new sunscreen ingredients.  These ingredients have been available in Europe for decades and significantly have more sun shielding power.

You can imagine reading this gave me HOPE.  As it stands now, the sunscreens in the US only have three protective ingredients for use. The new ingredients have been in consideration since the 1990s!!!! There are eight (8) new ingredients being tested.

Sunday's Wall Street Journal headlines state" Washington's Skin Cancer Hostages."

Sunscreen's active ingredients are regulated by the FDA like new medicines.The FDA are demanding more studies and safety data from manufacturers, despite the use of these drugs world-wide for decades.

Consider this:  skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. As skin cancer is rising, most other cancer rates are falling.  Skin cancer is preventable.  New sunscreens would help in prevention of skin cancer. Why is the FDA so sluggish when it listed actions related to sunscreen as a high priority in the Unified Agenda since 2008? 



Just saying!!



Mary Costello