Is SBS 0335-052 a young galaxy?

The metal-poor blue compact galaxy SBS 0335-052 has been put forward as a l ocal primeval galaxy candidate, with a proposed age less than 10(8) years. If true, this would imply that galaxy formation was not confined to high re d-shifts, but is still occurring in the local Universe, albeit at a slower rate. In this paper we show that some of the available data in the literatu re on SBS 0335-052 indicate an age significantly greater than 10(8) years. In view of this, the conclusion that SBS 0335-052 is a newly formed galaxy appears premature. We point out that single burst models in general give lo wer limits on age estimates, which should be borne in mind when assessing a ges for distant galaxies.