It isn't every day that environmental poster boy Robert F. Kennedy Jr. grabs the mic at the launch of a new miracle cream, but last spring the spirit moved him. Playing to a packed luncheon of beauty editors at New York City's Museum of Modern Art, the Crimes Against Nature author went on a blistering riff about pollution's effects on everything from inner-city asthma levels to the mercury in the fish on attendees' plates.

While Kennedy's speech didn't touch on the topic of Prescriptives' Super Line Preventor (SLP) Xtreme, those in the audience could connect the dots. "Although Bobby Kennedy certainly wasn't speaking for our product, we thought he would be fabulous, since SLP is our homage to the environment," says Prescriptives president Andrea Robinson.

Now in its sixth incarnation, SLP was originally launched in 1985, in the dawning days of antioxidant-stuffed restorative products. Twenty-plus years later, the ahead-of-the-curve cream has plenty of company, and the cosmetics industry is now introducing a new crop of daily-wear moisturizers laced with "super-antioxidants." Where scientists see a hole in the ozone, beauty companies see an opening in the market, offering turbocharged skin-care products specifically aimed at preventing damage reportedly caused by global warming and pollution.

grime scene

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, each year 141 million tons of pollution are emitted into the U.S. atmosphere. But are these toxins wreaking havoc on our complexions as well as our lungs and luncheon entrées? Howard Murad, M.D., an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at UCLA, says there's no question pollution has a harmful impact. "It's made up of particles that just sit on your skin," he says. "Think of your windshield: If you live in a polluted area, it's dirty an hour after you wash it."

Neil Sadick, M.D., a clinical professor of dermatology at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, agrees: "With the changes in the ozone layer, we're getting more instant ultraviolet radiation, as well as more damage from environmental pollutants. In my practice, we're definitely seeing more patients, and younger ones, with damaged skin." To repair it, and to guard against further threats, he adds, "the two major factors necessary are a broad-spectrum sunscreen and a high-potency antioxidant formula."

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