With the official start of summer just days away, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is calling on the Food and Drug Administration to release the results of studies investigating a possible link between sunscreen and skin cancer.

Schumer says FDA studies that were completed a year ago show that a chemical called retinal palmitate has been found to cause a 21-percent increase in lesions and tumors when rubbed on laboratory animals.

About half the sunscreen products on the market contain retinal palmitate, a vitamin-A derivative.

"It would be just ironic and cruel if the very sun block that we put on to prevent cancer, at least some of them, actually could increase the chances of cancer," Schumer says.