New Study Reveals That Sunscreen Chemicals Are Seeping Into Our Bloodstream

Who else is tired of being told that everything is bad for them nowadays?

Fruits and veggies are covered in chemicals; Instagram distorts our sense of reality; steroids make your pee-pee small – the list is never-ending. 

And now, sunscreen – the thing designed to protect us from skin cancers and burns – is infecting our bloodstream with potentially harmful chemicals. Technically it was always doing this, but we only just discovered the truth. So. 

If we’re all fucked, so is Medina.

Here’s the bad news from Wired:

Today, researchers at the FDA revealed the results of a small clinical trial designed to test how four of the most common sun-filtering molecules on the market behave after they’ve been sprayed on and rubbed in. The results, published in the journal JAMA, show that contrary to what sunscreen manufacturers have been saying, UV-blocking chemicals do seep into circulation.

Now, don’t panic and toss your tubes. There’s no evidence yet that they’re doing anything harmful inside the body. But the revelation will have serious impacts on sunscreen manufacturers going forward, and may change what options you’ll find on drugstore shelves before the year is out.

If they sink into tissues and get absorbed into the bloodstream, that could be a problem. Then, like other over-the-counter drugs the Food and Drug Administration oversees, sunscreens should be studied to make sure they don’t mess up people’s hormones, affect their reproductive systems, or cause cancer. Such safety testing has never been done on the active ingredients in sunscreen, because those chemicals were approved decades ago, before anyone suspected they could be absorbed into the body.

The researchers saw the same patterns in all 24 of the volunteers they recruited—12 men and 12 women, who were randomly assigned to apply one of four commercially available sunscreens: two sprays, a lotion, and a cream.

The participants applied their potions according to recommended labeling; four times a day for four days to 75 percent of their bodies, roughly the amount of skin you’d be showing in a bathing suit. For those four days, and three days after, the researchers collected blood every few hours to be analyzed for the presence of avobenzone, oxybenzone, octocrylene, and ecamsule, 30 samples in all. They discovered that while it took only a few hours for the UV-blocking chemicals to spike over the target, for three of the four formulations, those levels remained elevated through the end of the study—three days after participants had ceased spraying and smearing. Only the cream users saw their chemical concentrations tail off sooner. 

Slater has been a sunscreen skeptic for years. Perhaps his theories are true?

You can read the rest of the article (which is highly informative) here. 

It’s worth noting that there have been other recent studies questioning the practicality of sunscreen, based on the premise that sunscreen blocks Vitamin D absorption, and Vitamin D helps to combat heart disease (among other health issues), which kills significantly more people than skin cancer each year. 

While it would be rash to respond to these issues by banishing sunscreen forever, one could always benefit from using an organic option. Some of our favorites include: Avasol, Mr. Rock, Raw Elements, and Amavara, but there are plenty of other natural sun-protection options while surfing.

For instance, getting deeply tubed. 

How do you think John John stays so milky white, living in HI?