What happens to sunscreen after application? Do the ingredients exceed FDA limits?
Should you use sunscreen? Does it protect you against cancer or cause harm?
Sunscreen and Sunshine. Which is better for your health?
While working on this post, a substack article by the Midwestern doctor came through my email, which ties in well with my post. If you have not read the MWD article on dermatologists' opposition to the sun, here it is.
Sunlight has many benefits, including greater UVB exposure reducing breast cancer risk.
Still, as we are in the summer months in the US, the American Academy of Dermatology and the Skin Cancer Foundation would have you believe that you should apply sunscreen of 30 SPF or higher frequently, not just in the summer but every single day regardless of the weather or where you live.
The MWD posted a link to an NYT article in which the author writes that we should “generously” apply and reapply sunscreen daily.
They advise this even though melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, mostly occurs in areas of the body with minimal sunlight exposure, and people who work outdoors have higher UV exposure but lower melanoma rates than people who work indoors.
Could it be that people who spend less time in the sun are at greater risk for sunburns than people who spend time in the sun daily, which helps the body acclimate to the sunshine slowly?
None of the mainstream sunscreen promoters mention the dangerous consequences of sunscreen!
If you use sunscreen, you may be exposing yourself to toxic levels of chemicals and increasing your risk for cancer.
Yes, you heard that correctly. Applying sunscreen, thinking you are doing the right thing, may increase your toxic load, thereby increasing your cancer risk.
A 2020 study indicated that the chemicals found in sunscreen exceed the FDA's safety limits. The researchers examined 6 of the 12 active ingredients the FDA has questions about.
After just ONE sunscreen application, all the active ingredients tested were measured above the FDA safety threshold of 0.5 ng/mL in 75% of the participants. Skin samples indicated that all the chemicals were still present on the skin seven days later, even after daily showers.
You are bombarded with messages to lather on sunscreen, but no one is telling you about the chemicals that repeatedly enter your body through your skin via these lotions.
Anyone with genetic defects that hinder detoxification pathways or people who do not sweat, have regular bowel movements, or hydrate adequately may be hindering the body’s natural detoxification process.
Is sunscreen a drug or a cosmetic?
In the US, Sunscreens are treated like drugs, whereas in Europe, they are treated as cosmetics. This means that in the US, sunscreens may be outdated and more dangerous due to the FDA's slow approval process for sunscreen ingredients. Since the FDA requires expensive clinical trials for natural products, fewer natural sunscreens may come to market.
Does this slower process for safer and healthier sunscreens benefit the pharmaceutical industry? Is this slow process intentional?
What does sunscreen protect you against?
Sunscreens provided in the US protect (for the most part) against UVB rays and offer very little protection against UVA rays. UVA rays penetrate deeper into the skin and contribute to aging and cancer. Applying a product that protects you against sunburn (UVB rays) may still not offer you cancer protection (UVA rays).
Ironically, when you are told to apply sunscreen on cloudy days, UVA rays can pass through clouds and not necessarily cause burns but can cause cancer. Yet, that product you put on during a cloudy day will not offer much UVA protection.
Safer Sunscreens
I recommend going to the Environmental Working Group site and looking at the sunscreen options they suggest.
I do not use sunscreen because I am outside daily throughout the year, so my skin adjusts nicely to the changes, and I do not burn. I would use sunscreen on areas that have not been exposed if I were to travel, say, to a beach area. The perk of less sun exposure is less wrinkly skin, and I can attest that my facial skin as a runner is weathered by years of daily runs in the Colorado sunshine. But I prefer wrinkles over toxins daily lathered on my skin.
What to use for skin cancer
Curaderm, a topical cream from the Devil’s Apple fruit and eggplant extracts, has been touted as the most effective way of naturally addressing non-melanoma skin cancers. I have a tube of Curaderm (somewhere in the house) that I purchased years ago to keep on hand. But recently read an interesting Unbekoming post regarding Cansema Black Topical salve that is supposedly more effective for non-melanoma skin cancers.
A site for the product is www.alphaomegalabs.com.
Cansema Black Topical Salve contains zinc chloride and bloodroot. According to the Greg Canton interview by Unbekoming, the ingredients are synergistic and target cancer cells. With this information, it may be a good product to keep in your emergency health kit.
What about you? Do you use sunscreen? If so, do you have a favorite natural, non-toxic brand?
Have you had skin cancer? What did you do about it?
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This is NOT information allopathic practitioners will share with you.
Was AT the beach today and on a towel for 20 min one side. UV was 7.3. Two days ago did the other side same thing. As I was leaving numerous people were spraying on sunscreen, why aren't the environmentalists screaming about all the crap in the air when they spray that stuff?
Don't use sunscreen at all just stay out of the sun most of the time.
I have had a skin cancer that was poorly treated by a dermatologist who gouged a serious hole in my nose (he said he wanted to be safe in case it was a dangerous cancer) - only to find that the cancer wasn’t a dangerous one. I forget the name of the cancer. He also warned me to put nothing on the wound that even sounded like food - no vitamin E etc. I never went back to him. And have had no more skin cancer. I get a lot of sun and am a strawberry blonde. I try to protect my face. As a 73 yr old, I am a bit vain and am trying to get no more wrinkles.