Hey, Will, good morning. You just told me you’re going to the beach this weekend and a lot of shower, that means you will be going to the store, like a lot of us, shopping for sunscreen. And it’s confusing, SPF 70,80,100, I saw SPF 110 the other day. And the higher you go in many cases, the more money they charge you. But some doctors say the sunscreen companies are misleading you and they know what.

It’s another hot one at the beach, the sun bathers are out, so are the kids. And everywhere you turn, someone slathering(涂抹) on the sunscreen. 

“We believe that the higher the number the more protection we’ll get.”

“We want to the buy the very best for your kids.”

“The highest number.”

“The highest number, the sweatproof, the waterproof.”

But hang on, some doctors call those ultra-high SPF numbers are misleading marketing ploy. Buy SPF 100 instead of SPF 50, you may think you’re getting double the protection, but you’re actually only getting 1% more, which doctors say doesn’t make a real difference. And the FDA agrees there is no evidence anything over SPF 50 protects you any better. But yet the SPF 70s, 80s, 100, even 110 often cost you more at the store.

“I tell my patients SPF over 50 is useless, save your money and stick with a 30-50+.”

Yet, the sunscreen companies continue making it and selling it. “It provides the highest diverge SPF.” Some of the products even market for kids.

“ Isn’t that deceptive?”

“ I think it’s the consumer you make the choice based on what you feel, you need.”

We went straight to the industry group representing the sunscreen companies.

“ Have you see evidence that anything over SPF 50+ gives you better protection?”

“Because we are not part of that dialogue, that’s not in the area that I have gone into, because there’s..”

“You are in the industry, you’re saying you’re representing the industry.”

“That’s true.”

“Have you seen any science that shows that anything over SPF 50+ better protects you?”

“That scientific door I have not open, because there is a debate going on.”

Some companies like Neutrogena and Banana Boat say the higher SPF do work better and can offer better protection. Setting a limit on the label, they say would only hurt consumers. But the FDA isn’t convinced, now proposing new rules that would ban the skyhigh SPFs on labels. The limit would be SPF 50+. That’s it. And the FDA isn’t done yet, those big promises of waterproof and ultra sweatproof, while experts say they are misleading too, making you think you don’t have to reapply.

Waterproof and sweatproof are not true. If you go in the water and you swim in the ocean or pool and you come out, you’ve lost that sunscreen.

And that will burn you.

Confusing labels, pricier SPFs, what’s a beach lover to do?

“You’re gonna buy the highest number and one that says waterproof and one that says this is very best, sir. They kind of play on your motions as them all.”

By the way, not every company is coming out against that proposed SPF limits. Sunscreen giant Coppertone told us told us it will go along with whatever the FDA wants, as for those buzz words we just mentioned, waterproof and sweatproof may have been banned. The sunscreen companies have to change all their labels by the end of the year. Unfortunately, that’s a time for next summer, not this summer.

Jeff, this is really frustrating for those of us who spend vast portions of our summer moving up out kids. Let me ask you though the highest SPF, is there any harm in putting those on?

The harm, doctors say, is that when you put on these highest SPFs, you sort of have the spot, sense of security that you’ve covered all day, you don’t have to reapply. And the truth, the matter is you have to reapply, doctors say, every two hours, even more often if you go into the pool, or into the water.

Jeff Rossen, good information. Thanks so much, Jeff.