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Dr. Kim Mulvihill reporting A coalition of consumer, health and environmental groups filed a legal petition with the F-D-A. They want the agency to better regulate sunscreens and other products made by a revolutionary new technology.
It's called "nanotechnology". Those nanoparticles can be hundreds of times smaller than the width of a human hair.
On the Healthbeat.. doctor Kim Mulvihill explains why some say these tiny particles pose too big of a risk.
On a day like today, it's great to be outside. But you still have to think about your skin. Thank to modern technology you can get the protection without the white.
New sunscreens now on the market are very effective in blocking ultraviolet light while at the same time being transparent on the skin. They're made with nanoparticles..molecules so tiny.. it makes the sunscreen clear.
Charles Margulis, Int'l Center for Technology Assessment: "The problem is we don't know what else it does"
Charles Margulis is with the international center for technology assessment The center filed a petition asking the government to better regulate all products made with nanoparticles especially sunscreens, citing animal research.
Charles Margulis, Int'l Center for Technology Assessment: "There have been troubling findings.. About nanoparticles they can break the blood brain barriers.. Findings that these particles can be lethal"
The petition requests these products get pulled off the market until they're proven safe.
"With the summer season coming, they present a clear and present danger. Right now we don't know enough to say its harmful and we don't know enough to say its not harmful"
Dr. Margaret Taylor is an expert on nanotechnology at UC Berkeley.
Another expert in nanotechnolgy believes the petition raises serious issues based on sound science. But he says requests to pull nano sunscreens off the market just aren't justified.
Andrew Maynard, Ph.D.: "If you are going out into the sun, you have a real risk of skin cancer if you're exposing yourself to the sun without any real protection and you've got to balance that against a hypothetical risk in many cases of these products going into the skin."
Nanoparticles are now found in over two hundred consumer products.. everything from electronics to clothing.. to wrinkle creams. The only way to know is if you ask manufacturers. They're not required to put it on the label.
This is a theoretical risk that needs to be explored. But it is still important to use sunscreen.
