Is Your Sunscreen Causing You and Your Family More Damage than Good?

April 1, 2023 – With spring here and summer approaching, I thought I would tell you a bit about sunscreen/sunblock!  This may be an unpopular piece to those of you who diligently wear sunblock and considering this has been pushed heavily since the 1970’s, it is likely to be a surprise to most of you.

1  ”Sunscreens were introduced in the 1970s, yet here we are almost fifty years later with a shocking increase in the incidence of melanoma. In the United States in 1970, the incidence rate for melanoma was 5.7 per 100,000.2 Between 1973 and 2011, the overall rate increased 200 percent,3 and the rate for children and white female young adults increased 253 percent.4 Figure 1 shows the increase in incidence since sunscreens came into widespread use.”

If sunscreens actually worked, the incidence of melanomas would be lowering vs rising. The first sunscreens blocked only UVB rays.  UVB rays are what cause your skin to burn.  When you think about it, the skin burning is a warning to you to get out of the sun because your body no longer has protective nutrients to protect you from damage the sun may cause.  Blocking this warning, is like removing the warning light on your car.  If you are wearing sunblock, now you have no idea when it is time to get out of the sun to protect yourself.

When Melanoma levels continued to rise despite people wearing sunblock that blocked the UVB rays, the FDA, in 1988, began requiring sunblock also block the UVA rays. UV radiation is not the only thing penetrating skin.  Visible Wavelengths (49%) and near infrared (NIR) wavelengths (47%) are also penetrating skin and penetrating deeper than UVB or UVA. Nothing that is applied to the skin can stop the NIR wavelengths from penetrating deep into the skin. They cause damage to skin structures, including cancer. 5

In the1990’s studies concluded that sunshine did not cause melanomas or skin cancer.  In 1994, it was reported by researchers that sunscreens “failed to protect against UV radiation-induced increase in melanoma incidence.” 6 Several investigators also found a higher incidence of basal cell carcinomas with sunscreen use and stated in 1990 that their findings did not support a role for sunscreens in preventing basal cell carcinoma.7

By 2012—almost forty years after the beginning of sunscreen promotion as essential skin cancer protection—researchers stated: “Evidently, use of sunscreens is effective in prevention of sunburns in various models. However, evidence for their protective effects against melanoma skin cancer is less conclusive.”7 For non-melanoma skin cancers, a 2015 Australian study reported that their incidence had climbed to 2,448 per 100,000 person-years by 2011, up from 555 per 100,000 person-years in 1985.8 By 2017, researchers were reporting that “the effects of repeated, long-term and low-dose exposures to single compounds and mixtures of various UV filters” in sunscreens were “poorly studied” and that more research was needed “to evaluate the realistic hazard of contemporary sunscreens.”9

There are 16 UV-filtering chemicals that the FDA approved for use in sunscreens; 8 of them are used in today’s sunscreens:

UVB blocking:
Oxybenzone
Octinoxate
Octisalate,
Homosalate
Octocrylene
Titanium dioxide
8
UVA (THOUGHT to be UVA blocking)
Avobenzone
Zinc oxide
Many have been using these chemicals on their skin, despite the fact that they were not fully researched before the FDA approved them for use in sunscreens. Every chemical or mineral used in sunblock that is approved by the FDA for an SPF rating is not only toxic to aquatic life, but to the human body as well. 9

UV filters, chemical filters that absorb UV rays and physical filters that scatter and reflect UV rays have been shown in studies to impair hormonal and development pathways in humans, mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, and aquatic invertebrates. 10, 11 
So, what do I do?!  I enjoy being out in the sun and knowing I am absorbing Vitamin D through my skin and not having it blocked by sunscreen. 12 At the least sign of pinkness, I head to the shade. When I know I will NOT have shade available to me, I wear a large sun hat with a wide brim and make sure to have a long-sleeved thin cotton shirt to cover me if needed.  I also avoid seed oils and eat healthy fats and antioxidant rich foods that are protective of solar radiation. 13 

References:

1. https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/environmental-toxins/sunscreens-the-dark-side-of-avoiding-the-sun/#gsc.tab=0
2. Glanz K, Saraiya M, Wechsler H. Guidelines for school programs to prevent skin cancer. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep2002;51(RR04):1-16.
3. Reisch MS. After more than a decade, FDA still won’t allow new sunscreens: even an act of Congress doesn’t move sun filters closer to approval. C&EN2015;93(20):10-5.
4. Wolf P, Donawho CK, Kripke ML. Effect of sunscreens on UV radiation-induced enhancement of melanoma growth in mice. J Natl Cancer Inst 1994;86(2):99-105.
5. Hunter DJ, Colditz GA, Stampfer MJ, Rosner B, Willett WC, Speizer FE. Risk factors for basal cell carcinoma in a prospective cohort of women. Ann Epidemiol1990;1(1):13-23.
6. Krause M, Klit A, Blomberg Jensen M, et al. Sunscreens: are they beneficial for health? An overview of endocrine disrupting properties of UV-filters. Int J Androl2012;35(3):424-36.
7. Perera E, Gnaneswaran N, Staines C, Win AK, Sinclair R. Incidence and prevalence of non-melanoma skin cancer in Australia: a systematic review. Australas J Dermatol2015;56(4):258-67.
8. “Avobenzone.” www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/avobenzone.
9. Plourde E. Sunscreens—Biohazard: Treat as Hazardous Waste. Irvine, CA: New Voice Publications; 2011.
10. Wang J, Pan L, Wu S, et al. Recent advances on endocrine disrupting effects of UV filters. Int J Environ Res Public Health2016;13(8). Pii:E782.
11. Waring RH, Harris RM. Endocrine disrupters: a human risk? Mol Cell Endocrinol2005;244(1-2):
    2-9.​