Talk:Sunburn and sun protection

New FDA standard?

The article says a new standard is coming "soon" and that part appears to have been written in 2012. Is there now a new standard? If so, we should mention it & probably provide a link. Pashley (talk) 15:31, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

First aid for heat stroke?

Guessing, I'd try a cool bath or shower to lower body temperature but would be afraid to use cold water because of the risk of shock. Running a cold tap over the wrists has worked well to cool me down in high temperatures, but I've never had to use it for anything close to sunstroke.

What are the recommended first aid procedures? Are there drugs that people in high-risk areas should keep handy? User:Doc_James, do you know? Pashley (talk) 05:35, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

Also, both for sunburn and for heat stroke we advise drinking lots of water. Would something else — perhaps a sports drink or "Saudi Champagne" (50/50 soda water and apple juice) — be even better? Do we need a warning here about hyponatremia, like that at Marathon_race#Stay_healthy? Pashley (talk) 05:43, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

Well my friend who do track and field drink Apfelschorle (60% apple juice, 40% sparkling water) as if it were the nectar of the gods. Supposedly it is (almost) isotonic, but than again it is also a very popular drink in Germany...Hobbitschuster (talk) 11:35, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

There are some recommendations here [1] with a good ref.

I use oral rehydration solution (Gastrolyte is one brand) when I race as it has more potassium and I like the taste. I also recommend it to people who are dehydrated

When I did Marathon des Sables they handed out salt tablets.Travel Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 06:20, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Query re sun creams

At present the article doesn't name any specfic brands, I'm assuming this is a deliberate policy choice, which I won't dispute, but it would be nice to know. ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 16:36, 26 June 2017 (UTC)

I know of no policy absolutely prohibited brand names, but there would probably have to be something clearly unusual about them for them to be worth a specific mention. Ikan Kekek (talk) 17:01, 26 June 2017 (UTC)

We don't AFAIK have any policy against brand names. If there is some brand(s) of sun cream that is/are notably better/otherwise notable than others and available in many parts of the world, then I guess it/they can be mentioned. Is there? --ϒpsilon (talk) 17:15, 26 June 2017 (UTC)

The query was prompted by a report in Travel Which? (Travel supplement to a magazine put out by a "consumer rights" group in the UK), which gave a top rating to some specfic brands. Are there equivalent groups to the Consumers Association and w:Which? in the US? ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 18:10, 26 June 2017 (UTC)

There's Consumer Reports, a magazine founded by Ralph Nader when he was a consumer advocate and not a politician. Ikan Kekek (talk) 18:19, 26 June 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, I've put in a cautious enquiry to the former Wikipedian in Residence there on English Wikipedia. ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 18:21, 26 June 2017 (UTC)

I think before recommending certain brands we should know the issues. Test results might vary from one season to the next as they are changing their formulae, and even the same brand can have significantly different products. --LPfi (talk) 20:52, 26 June 2017 (UTC)

That was exactly the same concern I had as well ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 22:01, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

@ShakespeareFan00: No need to be cautious - message me anytime. Yes, I am still at Consumer Reports. On behalf of Consumer Reports, I had been working on the English Wikipedia article for sunscreen in April as described at w:en:Talk:Sunscreen. That is not necessarily relevant to the questions here, but I wanted to share that I have been thinking about what Wikimedia projects should say about sunscreens.

As LPfi suggests, this is a difficult issue. In the United States the recommended brands change year to year. Also, different products within the same brand can have different ratings. Consumer Reports only rates United States products, so products in other countries - even with the same branding - might actually be different formulations. In each year from 2012-2017, Consumer Reports has found that only about half of the sunscreens provide the protection they advertise. I have my own problems knowing what to say, because typically we publish advice for this year whereas in Wikipedia the real story might be that the longer term trend is that advertised labels might not be accurate. Let me sort something out at English Wikipedia first then I will come back here with some text. I know it is already late in the summer but I might need a couple of weeks for this. Thanks for your interest. Blue Rasberry (talk) 19:34, 30 June 2017 (UTC)