Melanoma Mondays: the best blocks

(Nikolay Okhitin/shutterstock.com)

Here is a guide to help you select the best sunblock based on the the 4th annual Environmental Working Group's (EWG) 2010 Sunscreen Guide, published on May 24, that shows only 8% of all the blocks on the market are effective and healthy.

Melanoma Mondays are the American Academy of Dermatology's (AAD) response to the fact that young Americans are not self-screening for skin cancer, namely melanoma, and May is dedicated to melanoma detection and prevention in the US.

It is fitting to focus on sunblocks this Monday because many can cause more harm than good. EWG's report has found only 39 products meet their health standards in that they do not tout "exaggerated SPF claims above 50", contain any "potentially hazardous ingredients, in particular recently developed government data linking the common sunscreen ingredient vitamin A [often labeled as "retinyl palmitate"] to accelerated development of skin tumors and lesions."

Also no "products with oxybenzone, a hormone-disrupting compound which penetrates the skin and enters the bloodstream" will be found on the top blocks list.

The highest scoring products were mineral based containing zinc or titanium.

Here is a list of the top beach and sport suncreens: http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen/best-beach-sport-sunscreens , the top SPF lip balms: http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen/best-beach-sport-sunscreens/lip-balms-with-spf , top SPF moisturizers: http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen/best-beach-sport-sunscreens/moisturizers-with-spf  and the top SPF makeup: http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen/best-beach-sport-sunscreens/spf-makeup