Avoid sunscreens with potentially harmful ingredients

When I was a boy no one thought about sun screen.  We played outdoors all day long without protection and made a game of pealing the dead skin off our burnt bodies.  Decades later, it would be practically child abuse to send a child out of the house without first coating them with sun screen. There shouldn't be an issue with applying a little protection on your skin but what is actually in sun screen and are any of the elements harmful?

According to the Environmental Working Group,  The active ingredients in sunscreens come in two forms, mineral and chemical filters. Each uses a different mechanism for protecting skin and maintaining stability in sunlight. Each may pose hazards to human health.
The most common sunscreens on the market contain chemical filters. These products typically include a combination of two to six of these active ingredients: oxybenzone, avobenzone, octisalate, octocrylene, homosalate and octinoxate. Mineral sunscreens use zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide. A handful of products combine zinc oxide with chemical filters.

This table outlines human exposure and toxicity information for nine FDA-approved sunscreen chemicals.  EWG asked these questions:

• Will the chemical penetrate skin and reach living tissues?
• Will it disrupt the hormone system? 
• Can it affect the reproductive and thyroid systems and, in the case of fetal or childhood exposure, permanently alter reproductive development or behavior?
• Can it cause a skin allergy?
• What if it is inhaled?
• Other toxicity concerns?

Chemical	EWG Hazard Score	Use in U.S. sunscreens	Skin Penetration	Hormone disruption	Skin Allergy	Other concerns	References
UV filters with higher toxicity concerns
Oxybenzone	8	Widespread	Detected in nearly every American; found in mother’s milk; 1-to-9% skin penetration in lab studies	Acts like estrogen in the body; alters sperm production in animals; associated with endometriosis in women	Relatively high rates of skin allergy		Janjua 2004, Janjua 2008, Sarveiya 2004, Gonzalez 2006, Rodriguez 2006, Krause 2012
Octinoxate (Octylmethoxycinnamate)	6	Widespread	Found in mothers’ milk; less than 1% skin penetration in human and laboratory studies	Hormone-like activity; reproductive system, thyroid and behavioral alterations in animal studies	Moderate rates of skin allergy		Krause 2012, Sarveiya 2004, Rodriguez, 2006, Klinubol 2008
UV filters with moderate toxicity concerns
Homosalate	4	Widespread	Found in mothers’ milk; skin penetration less than 1%  in human and laboratory studies	Disrupts estrogen, androgen and progesterone		Toxic breakdown products	Krause 2012, Sarveiya 2004, SCCNFP 2006
Octisalate	3	Widespread; stabilizes avobenzone	Skin penetration in lab studies		Rarely reported skin allergy		Walters 1997, Shaw 2006 Singh 2007
Octocrylene	3	Widespread	Found in mothers’ milk; skin penetration in lab studies		Relatively high rates of skin allergy		Krause 2012, Bryden 2006, Hayden 2005
UV filters with lower toxicity concerns
Titanium Dioxide	2 (topical use), 6 (powder or spray)	Widespread	No finding of skin penetration	No evidence of hormone disruption	None	Inhalation concerns	Gamer 2006, Nohynek 2007, Wu 2009, Sadrieh 2010, Takeda 2009, Shimizu 2009, Park 2009, IARC 2006b
Zinc Oxide	2 (topical use), 4 (powder or spray)	Widespread; excellent UVA protection	Less than 0.01% skin penetration in human volunteers	No evidence of hormone disruption	None	Inhalation concerns	Gulson 2012, Sayes 2007, Nohynek 2007, SCCS 2012
Avobenzone	2	Widespread; best UVA protection of chemical filters	Very limited skin penetration	No evidence of hormone disruption	Relatively high rates of skin allergy		Klinubol 2008, Bryden 2006, Hayden 2005, Montenegro 2008
Mexoryl SX	2	Uncommon; pending FDA approval; offers good, stable UVA protection	Less than 0.16% penetrated the skin of human volunteers	No evidence of hormone disruption	Skin allergy is rare		Benech-Kieffer 2003, Fourtanier2008
6 other ingredients approved in the U.S. are rarely used in sunscreens: benzophenone-4, benzophenone-8, menthyl anthranilate, PABA, Padimate O, and trolamine salicylate

The Trouble With Sunscreen Chemicals - Environmental Working Group

Sun Screen Don'ts - Environmental Working Group

Sun Safety Tips - Environmental Working Group

What brand(s) do I recommend?  I am by no means an expert and no one product will every satisfy the needs of every individual but Sandy Kennedy, who knows way too much about the adverse effects that common house hold products can have upon us recommends Ava Anderson.  When discussing this topic with Sandy, she told me of her utter frustration when seeking out products that did not contain known carcinogens and xenobiotics.  Even when shopping at Holistic shops with products calling themselves "Natural" or "Organic" she found no clean sun screens.  That is when she discovered Ava Anderson.  

Personally, I would digest the Link: Sun Safety Tips, cover up when possible and avoid the Chemicals listed above. Enjoy the sun, but be careful. 

Dr David J. Marcon

Marcon Chiropractic & Wellness Center