News organizations worldwide are starting to ask questions about why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration apparently didn’t realize its own researchers had for 10 years known that vitamin A derivatives used in sunscreen might themselves actually increase skin cancer risk.

Another web-based news outlet, All The Latest News, has picked up on a story that hit this summer after the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group released a report suggesting that chemical sunscreen products have not been properly tested for chemical safety and that most chemical sunscreen products on the market contain potentially dangerous chemicals that need better testing.

“In their annual report, researchers at Environmental Working Group (EWG) point to a decade-old FDA study they discovered on the FDA’s own website showing vitamin A’s photocarcinogenic properties, meaning the possibility that it results in cancerous tumors when used on skin exposed to sunlight,” the website reported. The story claimed the FDA study showed that tumors grew 21 percent faster in lab animals slathered in the vitamin A based sunscreen as opposed to sunscreen alone.

The story quoted EWG Senior Vice President Jane Houlihan as saying, “There was enough evidence 10 years ago for FDA to caution consumers against the use of vitamin A in sunscreens. FDA launched this one-year study, completed their research and now 10 years later, they say nothing about it, just silence.”

An FDA official said in the story that the agency was not aware of any research on vitamin A in sunscreens. But “FDA’s own website said the animal studies were done at its National Center for Toxicological Research in Jefferson, Ark.,” the story reported.

To read the “All the Latest News” report click here.