The Surgeon General recently declared skin cancer a national health concern and pointed to sunburns during childhood as a clear risk factor for skin cancer later in life. However, the FDA regulates sunscreen as an over the counter drug (OTC), and as a result, 47 states currently restrict public school children from openly carrying and applying sunscreen at school without a signed permission slip.
“Children experience nearly three times more UV exposure than adults, yet we are not supplying them with what they need to protect their skin at school. Through Project Black Dot and Project 1: Permission, I am excited to offer a new way for us to educate parents and policymakers across the country about the importance of teaching children safe sun practices, especially in their formative years.” says Maria Sharapova, co-founder of Project Black Dot with a goal of calling attention to current United States regulations on sunscreen use in schools
Project Black Dot the new advocacy platform that aims to raise year-round skin cancer awareness and call attention to current United States regulations on sunscreen use in schools founded by tennis star Maria Sharapova and CEO of Supergoop! Holly Thaggard.
- Approximately 40 million kids in the U.S. go to school unprotected from the sun, leaving children 3x more exposed to harmful rays than adults year round.
- Due to current FDA regulations classifying sunscreen as an over the counter drug (OTC), 47/50 states in the US restrict children from carrying & applying sunscreen at school.
- Started by UV protection expert Holly Thaggard and championed by Maria Sharapova, ProjectBlackDot.org’s aim is to put the power back into the hands of parents and schools by providing a simple, downloadable permission slip through the site which parents can sign, to allow their children to carry & apply sunscreen at school – with the goal of obtaining 100,000 signed sunscreen permission slips.
“Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer than breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer combined…and yet, skin cancer is one of the most preventable of cancers,” says Thaggard, Supergoop! Founder & CEO. “While summer season and event based suncare is a practice that is on the rise, people are less engaged in every day, year-round suncare habits. It’s this incidental, unprotected exposure to UV rays over the course of a lifetime that creates much of the cumulative damage that leads to skin cancer. Our goal at Supergoop! is for sun protection to be as recognized as a healthy habit as the need for women to get mammograms or even more simply to teach your child to wear a seat belt or brush her teeth. With Project Black Dot, Maria and I are excited to share our passion and help ignite the important conversation about skin cancer prevention while providing simple, convenient tools to help Americans embrace healthy sun protection habits.”
For more information, please visit: www.ProjectBlackDot.org
About Supergoop! Launched in 2007 by suncare industry pioneer, Holly Thaggard, Supergoop! is the only prestige skincare brand completely dedicated to UV protection, innovations and research and development. Supergoop! is dedicated to delivering healthy, multifunctional suncare formulas free of controversial ingredients. With patents pending for new, highly technical and effective formulas, Supergoop! has earned distinction in the industry. Awarded the CEW INDIE Beauty Award as well as Allure’s Best of Beauty and Reader’s Choice awards, Supergoop! is at the forefront of new skincare product innovation. Supergoop! is currently available at Supergoop.com, Sephora/Sephora.com, Nordstrom/Nordstrom.com, Dillard’s, Birchbox.com on air at QVC and on qvc.com. For more information, please visit www.supergoop.com.
