Carcinogen Contaminants in Sunscreens
The summer is here and we need to get our supplies of sun protection, from protective clothing to the sunscreens we apply on our skin.
Right in time for the summer, I came across a medical article stating that Valisure—an online pharmacy that more rigorously tests its batches of medications, found unacceptable levels of benzene—a human carcinogen.
In case you didn’t know, Valisure is same that conducted testing in Zantac (ranitidine) and many batches contained a different carcinogen, n-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Subsequently FDA recalled them, and as of April 2020 completely removed them from the shelves.
Here is the actual quote from the article about sunscreens:
“Valisure, an online pharmacy known for testing every batch of medication it sells, announced that it has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to recall 40 batches of sunscreens and after-sun products they say tested for high levels of the chemical benzene.
The company tested 294 batches from 69 companies and found benzene in 27% – many in major national brands like Neutrogena and Banana Boat. Some batches contained as much as three times the emergency FDA limit of 2 parts per million.”
Benzene is a known carcinogen in humans. If there is any benzene in our products, we’ll likely absorb that through the skin. If we spend a day at the beach, we’d need to use sunscreen a few times on large areas of our body and the amounts add up to be significant.
We don’t even have to know their chemical formulas, just reading some common sunscreen ingredients names, such as oxybenzone, benzophenone, para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA)—we see “benzo” in their names. Probably benzene remains as a contaminant from the chemical synthesis process.
Luckily not all the sunscreens were found to contain benzene, according to Valisure testing. Soon we’ll probably see if the FDA pulls some batches off the shelves.
I had enough concerns about the safety of our sunscreens and cosmetics even before I read this recent article. Many inactive ingredients with strange names, like polyethylene glycols (PEGs) and its derivatives, polysorbates, or phenoxyethanol, can be contaminated with another carcinogen—ethylene oxide—as they are derived from it.
That’s why I only get (non-nano) mineral sunscreen sticks or lotions from brands like Badger, Babo Botanicals, and more recently Sun Bum. Because I noticed that manufacturers may change the “recipes,” each time I have to refresh our supplies, I check to make sure the very product I’m interested in buying doesn’t contain any of the chemicals mentioned above.
Being mineral sunscreens they are without the “benzo”-derived ingredients. Even with the mineral sunscreens, I do stay away from sprays because the risk of inhaling the tiny nano-particles used to produce them, plus their more limited UV protection.
