EWG strongly supports the use of sunscreen and other sun protection measures to reduce long- term skin damage and cancer. The EWG Guide to Sunscreens rates products to make it easier for consumers to identify the most effective products that avoid the use of concerning chemicals.
The EWG Guide to Sunscreens rates the hazards and efficacy of sun protection products that include recreational sunscreens, in addition to daily-use products and lip balms.
We launched the guide in 2007, because the Food and Drug Administration had failed to set modern safety standards for sunscreens. Without EWG’s guide, consumers would have to sift through misleading market claims and complex ingredient lists to determine whether their favorite sunscreens would protect them from sun-related skin damage and cancer.
Through its research, EWG has discovered that products are not all the same when it comes to ultraviolet, or UV, protection and ingredient hazards, and some sunscreens have serious problems. We continue to press the FDA to issue regulations that address these deficiencies.
In the meantime, EWG’s Guide to Sunscreens aims to help consumers make good choices and avoid sun damage and skin cancer.
EWG assesses products based on ingredients disclosed on product labels. Each product is given a score, ranging from 1 to 10. The score reflects both the degree of protection from the sun’s UV radiation and the hazards of all ingredients on the label.
We base two-thirds of the overall score on a product’s UV protection. One-third of the score reflects the hazard score, which is based on concerns about the listed ingredients’ toxicity.
This ratio of scoring based on modeled efficacy and ingredient hazards changes slightly for products with ingredients of concern. For those products, the formulation or ingredient hazards can make up half of the overall score.
On every product page you can see how a product scores on the basis of six criteria:
UV protection. A product’s ability to offer protection from UV rays is scored for four factors: UVB protection, UVA protection, UVA/UVB balance and sunscreen stability. Products are rated “excellent,” “good,” “moderate” or “poor” for each of these factors; ratings are based on the protection offered by the concentration of sunscreen ingredients listed on product labels.| UVB PROTECTION (SPF) | LABELED SPF VALUE |
| UVA PROTECTION | EXCELLENT / GOOD / MODERATE / POOR |
| UVA/UVB BALANCE | EXCELLENT / GOOD / MODERATE / POOR |
| SUNSCREEN STABILITY | EXCELLENT / GOOD / MODERATE / POOR |
| HEALTH CONCERN | LOW / MODERATE / HIGH |
| OTHER CONCERNS | CONTAINS OXYBENZONE / CONTAINS VITAMIN A / MISLEADING SPF / SPRAY / POWDER |
The “data availability” rating measures how much is known about an ingredient. Not all ingredients are equal when it comes to hazard data. Some have been studied extensively. For others, there is only a modest volume of research. Some have not been tested at all.
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Data: None
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Data availability rating: the scope of ingredient hazard data contained in Skin Deep® and the number of studies available in the open scientific literature |
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Data: Limited
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Data: Fair
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Data: Good
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Data: Robust
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A product’s low score on the hazard scale doesn’t mean much if scientists know very little about its contents. Your best bet? A doubly good score: low hazard rating and high data availability.
WHAT DOES THE EWG Verified® MARK MEAN?The EWG Verified® mark on a sunscreen product indicates that the product meets EWG’s strictest standards for health, transparency and efficacy. You can trust that it is free from harmful ingredients and offers protection from both UVA and UVB rays. EWG Verified sunscreen products must provide test results that go beyond what is required by the FDA or Europe to substantiate balanced UVA protection.
In addition, EWG Verified sunscreens:
✔ Avoid EWG’s ingredients of concern. EWG Verified products cannot contain any of EWG’s “unacceptable” ingredients, which includes ingredients with health, ecotoxicity and/or contamination concerns.
✔ Provides full transparency. EWG Verified products must meet EWG’s standards for ingredient disclosure on the label. Products with the EWG Verified mark are made by manufacturers that have been fully transparent with EWG about that product’s ingredients, including fragrance ingredients.
✔ Are backed by science. Program standards and criteria are created by EWG’s team of scientists, formulators and toxicologists.
EWG Verified sunscreens also take into account additional factors. Sunscreens that carry the mark cannot:
Read our methodology section for a complete description of our sunscreen ratings system.
