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#Freethesunscreens Petition Calls on President Obama to Act Immediately to Fight Skin CancerSummer is still technically a month away but today, the unofficial social media designated #SunscreenDay, The Public Access to SunScreens (PASS) Coalition called on all Americans to sign the recently launched "We The People" White House petition that calls on the Obama Administration to act immediately to fight skin cancer by ensuring Americans have access to the latest sunscreen technology. Eight pending sunscreen ingredients have been pending at the FDA, some for over a decade, without final decisions despite enactment of the bipartisan Sunscreen Innovation Act signed into law last November. "Americans have gone more than a decade without the kinds of innovative sunscreen products citizens in other countries have enjoyed for years. Meanwhile, skin cancer has become a public health crisis that is only getting worse according to the US Surgeon General," said Michael Werner, PASS Coalition Policy Advisor. "When the Sunscreen Innovation Act was signed into law last year, Americans expected that they would soon be able to get the latest in sunscreen technology long available to citizens of countries all over the world. But six months have gone by and the FDA still has not approved these sunscreens despite their track record of safety and effectiveness," Werner concluded. "We are hopeful that the recently launched petition will engage the White House in helping to solve this sunscreen backlog." The #freethesunscreens petition was launched to get the Obama Administration to act immediately to fight skin cancer by ensuring consumers have access to the latest in sunscreen technology. The petition requires 100,000 signatures by June 21st to garner a response from the White House. Click here to sign and share the petition: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/act-immediately-fight-skin-cancer. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer diagnosed in the U.S. Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer - including melanoma - than the combined incidence of breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer. From 1975-2011, rates of melanoma in young men and women ages 20-39 years increased by 34% in men and by 84% in women. According to the Surgeon General, nearly 5 million Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer and one person dies every hour of every day from melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer. The cost to treat skin cancer is over $8 billion, which doesn't include the pain and suffering for families that lose their loved ones from the disease. The Surgeon General and CDC both regularly call on Americans to wear sunscreen to prevent skin cancer. The bipartisan Sunscreen Innovation Act (Public Law No: 113-195) streamlined the approval process for new sunscreen ingredients to ensure that new sunscreen ingredients receive a transparent review within a predictable timeframe. The law was intended to ensure the American public gains access to the latest safe, effective and innovative sunscreen products to protect against the sun's most harmful rays. The last over-the-counter (OTC) sunscreen ingredient to be approved by FDA was in the 1990s. Since 2002, eight new sunscreen applications have been filed and are still awaiting final decisions 13 years later. New sunscreen technologies currently awaiting approval in the U.S. have been widely available in Europe, Asia, and Central and South America, in some cases for more than 15 years. PASS Coalition website: http://www.passcoalition.com/ PASS Coalition Facebook (News - Alert) page: https://www.facebook.com/PASSCoalition?ref=hl PASS Coalition Twitter (News - Alert) page: https://twitter.com/PASSCoalition ________________________________________________________________________ The PASS Coalition is a multi-stakeholder coalition of public health organizations, dermatologists, sunscreen ingredient companies, and concerned citizens who will work collaboratively with the FDA, the White House and Congress to establish a timely and transparent framework for approval of the next generation of UV active filters for OTC sunscreens. Click here to see the full membership of the PASS Coalition.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150527006467/en/ |
