That's Fit blogger Jonathon Morgan wrote on May 25 about five sunscreen myths. In the spirit of Skin Cancer Awareness Month, it seems appropriate to mention this thought-provoking news here on this site.

I just heard a radio commercial about a certain sunscreen, claiming the product is so good consumers need only apply the lotion one time during an eight-hour time frame. It seems, according to the following list of myths, this is not exactly true.

Myth #1: Sunscreens protect all day.
Fact: Regardless of the SPF or what the label says, sunscreens must be reapplied every two hours because active ingredients in most products break down when exposed to the sun.

At the end of March, we told you about nine lawsuits filed in a California court against the makers of five of the most popular sunscreen brands in the U.S. -- Coppertone, Hawaiian Tropic, Banana Boat, Neutrogena and BullFrog -- accusing sunscreen makers of misleading consumers on how well their lotions block the sun's harmful rays, putting millions of people at risk of skin cancer.

Over the weekend, over 166 separate news stories have been filed about these lawsuits. At first I wondered why now, over two months after the news first came out about the lawsuits, suddenly the peaked interest. Are we short on new health news? Maybe.

However, with all the additional coverage, I was able to learn that the accusations might not be a matter of exaggerated claims alone, but a scurrilous attempt to skirt the laws in deliberately misrepresenting the value of sunscreen products for the purpose of profit at the expense of human lives in increased skin cancer risks. Have we just come to a time when we might as well assume that all companies deceive and that our government seems incompetent to protect its citizens? Maybe so.

Here's how this whole situation happened, and why there are now nine lawsuits filed against some of the biggest names in sunblock lotion products. Sunscreen makers claim their sunscreen lotion is waterproof and acts as a sunblock. Years ago, the FDA wanted the claims changed to read water resistant instead of waterproof and sunscreen instead of sunblock. Because the FDA has never imposed the changes, the big name sun lotion makers chose to go with the more descriptive wording that made the lotions sound more effective than they were in actual fact. To some, it might seem a matter of semantics but words have power. The change from sunblock to sunscreen and waterproof to the more accurate water resistant could mean a potential difference in profits. What's at stake? Years of consumer health.