FDA taken to task for not releasing its final sunscreen rules

A group called the Cancer Prevention Coalition is charging that the Food and Drug Administration is asleep at the wheel on the dangers of sunscreens. A year after FDA proposed new regulations for more informative labeling of sunscreens, they are still not finalized yet. The coalition reported that in response to FDA's inaction, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal wrote to FDA on July 24 criticizing its failure to regulate the sunscreen industry. Following Blumenthal's letter, Senators Jack Reed (D, R.I.) and Christopher Dodd (D, Conn.) introduced the Sunscreen Labeling Act of 2008. This gives the FDA six more months to finalize comprehensive rules. Otherwise the Act would become law. The coalition believes that many sunscreens currently on the market carry dangerously misleading claims on their safety and effectiveness, thus posing a danger to consumers. It wants final rules from the agency to regulate the industry.

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