It's Summer 2017, are sunscreens still TOXIC?

Across the last couple of weeks, I have cringed when patients have commented that they have been slathering on the sun screen as they are gardening and playing in our glorious furnace days of summer.  I was remembering the study that showed that the majority of sunscreens were toxic. That study was released 3 years ago. With only remembering that they contained chemicals that were incompatible with our well being thus our long term health.
Dermal exposure of chemicals can result in systemic toxicity influencing our susceptibility to other disease and and even allergic reactions and energy levels. Remember that a toxic load keeps the inflammation process activated.

The Chemicals to Check your sunscreen for:

• oxybenzone
• avobenzone
• octisalate
• octocrylene
• homosalate
• octinoxate.

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Hey better living through chemistry, right? Not!
Some questions to ask:
Does a chemical influence hormones, immune function, is it disruptive to the liver or kidneys or other organs as it gets broken down or passes through your system or stays in your blood? How will chemicals effect pregnant woman and children. How will it effect fertility? 
According to the EWG research the above chemicals are estrogenic, may disrupt the thyroid, as well as other endocrine glands. Oxybenzone is major endocrine disruptor messing with sperm count and endometriosis.
There are a variety of brands that may be safe. These lists are available on the wellnessmama.com link as well as the EWG site. We also have to ask who is paying for us to be able to get this information and how it might be biased. Wellness mama also has a link on that page that is a recipe for making your own sunscreen and she states if you wouldn't eat it don't put on your skin and I completely agree with this.

The EWG makes the following suggestions on what you can do to protect yourself from sun damage.

Check your skin regularly for new moles that are tender or growing. Ask your primary care doctor how often you should see a dermatologist.
The best defenses against getting too much harmful UV radiation are protective clothing, shade and timing.

• Don’t get burned. Red, sore, blistered or peeling skin means far too much sun – and raises your skin cancer risk.
• Wear clothes. Shirts, hats, shorts and pants provide the best protection from UV rays – and they don’t coat your skin with goop.
• Find shade – or make it. Picnic under a tree, read beneath an umbrella or take a canopy to the beach. Keep infants in the shade – they lack the tanning pigments, known as melanin, that protect skin.
• Plan around the sun. Go outdoors in early morning or late afternoon, when the sun is lower. UV radiation peaks at midday.
• Sunglasses aren’t just a fashion accessory. Good shades protect your eyes from UV radiation that causes cataracts.

Sunglasses? I am not sure that I agree with this, an article for another time.

References:

• The study from 2014 on toxicity http://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/
• https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/skin/default.html​
• https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/basic_info/sun-safety.htm
• https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/statistics/state.htm
• https://draxe.com/75-of-sunscreens-are-toxic-what-to-do-instead/
• https://wellnessmama.com/55366/sunscreen-is-harmful/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538462/
• https://medicalxpress.com/news/2009-03-melanoma-deadly-skin-cancer-rapidly.html