Brian Lairer on WNYC, Ask the Mayor, with Mayors on Momdani coming up after the 11 o'clock news.

Right now, you know that every Tuesday we dig in a little on a story dealing with climate change

or other aspects of public health, and today our topic is sunscreen. The risks of going

without may not be as immediately threatening as Ebola or hantavirus or measles, but the

long-term risks of skin cancer from overexposure are very real, and who wants the wrinkles

either. There's also a viral topic online right now, which we're not going to settle in this

segment, over the health risks of certain kinds of sunscreens, risks as identified by the

nonprofit called the Environmental Working Group, and pushback from dermatologists who warn

they risk scaring some people off from using sunscreen at all,

which would be much, much worse from a public health standpoint

than being too precise or too picky about what chemical is in some of them,

especially when the alternatives can be significantly

more expensive, the ones the environmental working group prefers. But which sunscreen to choose?

Chemical or mineral, those are the two big categories. How much and how strong? And what about the

coral reefs? Do you know how protecting them from your sunscreen might be an issue?

So to talk about some of these choices, we are joined by Nancy Red, a writer covering health

and personal care at Wirecutter, the product recommendation service from the New York Times.

Hey, Nancy, welcome to WNYC.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm so looking forward to talking about this.

First, before we even get to sunscreen, let's establish this. Dermatologists say being in the

shade or physically blocking the sun with clothing like hats or long-sleeved shirts, even when

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