12/7/2023 0 Comments Ewg sunscreen ingredients to avoid![]() As Healthy Debate has discussed before, chemicals that have major health effects in mice often don’t affect human health.īecause of chance, and because of their susceptibility, it’s easy to find the odd study showing a scary effect in mice or in cells for almost any chemical, explains Robert Nuttall, assistant director at the Canadian Cancer Society. Our skin is much more protective and our bodies process chemicals differently, explains Levy. The second is that rats are different from humans. Another study – the one that gave Petersen a sigh of relief – showed that people would have to apply sunscreen with oxybenzone on a quarter of their body every single day for 277 years to reach the level of exposure that the rats received in the study. “Toxicologists always talk about how it’s the dose that makes the poison so that’s important to keep in mind,” explains Levy. The first is that the rats ingested incredibly high doses. There are two reasons why the study isn’t so alarming. In other words, the chemical disrupted the hormonal activity of these rats. In this study, rats were fed repeated doses of the chemical, and as a result, the average size of their uteri grew by 23%. So why is the EWG so concerned? Let’s start with one of the main studies EWG based its oxybenzone concerns on. After reviewing dozens of studies on oxybenzone, t he European Scientific Committee on Consumer Products concluded the chemical in the concentrations found in sunscreen “poses no health risk.” Another systematic review published in 2011 examined the available data on the effects of oxybenzone and retinyl palmitate and drew the same conclusion. The chemicals that the EWG recommends most strongly against – oxybenzone and retinyl palmitate – have both been deemed safe by Health Canada and other scientific review committees. The benefit of the ingredient must be shown to outweigh any potential adverse effects, such as allergic reactions, in human studies. Health Canada scientists review the available clinical trials and safety information on a sunscreen ingredient that absorb or block UVA or UVB before approving it. Are sunscreen chemicals safe? Here’s what the evidence tells usĪctive sunscreen ingredients are regulated as drugs in Canada, which means they undergo much more safety and effectiveness testing than cosmetics and other products. So who’s right? Healthy Debate investigates. “That’s really not true…but the odds of you getting skin cancer as a result of not protecting yourself from the sun are really high.” (All of the dermatologists interviewed for this article stated that they do not receive funding from the sunscreen industry.) ![]() “I have patients with fair skin who have sun damage tell me that they don’t use sunscreen because they think the chemicals cause cancer,” says Michelle Levy, a Toronto-based dermatologist who criticizes the EWG report for being inaccurate and fear-mongering. The fact that some environmental scientists say many sunscreens could be toxic while dermatoloigsts say they’re safe has led to a great deal of confusion. “I was more concerned about my children, but if it’s disrupting hormones and it could be causing cancer, I don’t want to be exposed to that either,” says Petersen.Īfter some further research, however, she came across other research by dermatologists showing “that the amount your body is absorbing is so miniscule that it’s not a problem.” Petersen was alarmed to see, for example, that oxybenzone, a chemical in her own sunscreen “ acts like estrogen in the body” and is “associated with endometriosis in women.” ![]() The report by the non-profit environmental advocacy organization is hugely popular, mentioned frequently in media articles. Petersen’s friend referred her to a report on sunscreen safety by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit environmental advocacy organization that receives funding from many sources, including natural cosmetics companies. When a friend told Stacey Petersen that chemicals in her child’s sunscreen could be harmful, she wanted to find out more. ![]()
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