Suncreens that don’t work get burned in report

With the unofficial start of summer this weekend, the sunscreen aisle can be a dizzying consumer experience, with each bottle touting a different claim, sun protection factor and, of course, price tag.

But when it comes to how well the products work and how safe they are to use, nearly 75 percent don’t stack up, according to a sweeping new review conducted by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. The findings are only the latest evidence that, when it comes to buying sun protection products, consumers have to be discerning.

Nearly half of top-rated sunscreen products don’t meet American Acad- emy of Dermatology standards, according to a JAMA dermatology study last year. And nearly 40 percent of sun products tested worked at less than half the SPF they were labeled at, a Consumer Reports analysis found earlier this year.

The Environmental Working Group review — which the group has been doing every year for a decade — evaluated about 900 sunscreens, 500 SPFlabeled moisturizers and more than 100 lip products by factors such as ultraviolet-ray protection, health hazards associated with ingredients and breakdown during exposure to the sun.

The group’s sunscreen ratings can be found online in its SkinDeep cosmetics database.

Here’s what to keep an eye out for: SPF levels can be too high or too low.

People tend to assume that the higher a sunscreen’s SPF, the better it works. But the group said that the effect of nominally higher-rated protection may actually be “negligible,” and products with SPFs between 30 and 50 work well.

Conversely, too-low SPF values can also be a problem. American Academy of Dermatology standards require an SPF of 30 or higher, among other factors, a standard that about 90 percent of top-rated sunscreens met.