Benzene Detected in 78 Different Sun Screen Products

Just thought I'd share this here on ATS for everyone. A consumer product testing company, Valisure, has released a report showing dangerous levels of the Class 1 solvent benzene in 78 different sun screen products. Benzene is a carcinogen. It's absorbed through the skin or by inhalation, it can cause liver and kidney damage and generally, it's nasty #.

www.valisure.com...

Valisure LLC has tested and detected high levels of benzene, a known human carcinogen, in several brands and batches of sunscreen, which are considered drug products by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as in after-sun care products, which are generally regulated by FDA as cosmetics. Benzene is known to cause cancer in humans according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization, and other regulatory agencies. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) defines benzene as a carcinogen and lists “inhalation, skin absorption, ingestion, skin and/or eye contact” as exposure routes. 27% of samples tested by Valisure contained detectable benzene and some batches contained up to three times the conditionally restricted FDA concentration limit of 2 parts per million (ppm).

List of affected products starting page 12 (PDF)

Now I'm not going to post every page of the table, but i wanted to post an example one to point something out



You'll notice Neutrogena appears a lot.

en.wikipedia.org...

Neutrogena is an American brand of skin care, hair care and cosmetics owned by Johnson & Johnson

Well would you look at that. What do you know, the company that appears most in the list of sunscreen products containing benzene is owned by none other than Johnson & Johnson.

ETA: Figured I'd add the list of unaffected products too.(PDF)

a reply to: dug88
So you tell me the smell of vacation and beach is actually the smell of cancer and death?

Just wait until someone decides to take a look at makeup. I know damn well why I don't touch the stuff and my skin is in agreement. Many girls from my school class I met, you could think they are heavy smokers or drinkers compared to me.

Well! Looks like being "ugly" for refusing to wear makeup actually preserved my skin far better. Who's laughing now bitches.

a reply to: dug88

Noooo. I will never be able to go outside between the hours of 11am to 5 pm between May and September.

Neutrogena is the only brand I've been able to use for years other than Japanese brands that are hard to get.

ETA. The one I use isn't on the list, but I can't wait for the class action for this one. Maybe we'll all get $20.00 for the lifetime of exposure.

Kind of ironic how skin-cancer cases have increased right along with SPF levels of these products.

But yeah....let's blame sunshine

Had no idea that chemical was in so many sunscreens, very valuable information. Will be very useful when I purchase my next bottle.

a reply to: TXRabbit

I see that too. That being said, I got skin cancer at 26 after trying desperately to get a tan in tanning beds. So maybe it's that too?

a reply to: Atsbhct

Tanning beds are UV lightbulbs inches away from your skin. I don't know if they directly compare to the sun to be honest. UV lights are used in greenhouses and stuff to sterilize tools and kill PM and such. Every time i've used one i've been warned not to shine it on my skin, look at it or be around it for more than a few minutes.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

Personally, i've never been a fan of makeup, especially when women just cake it on. It makes them look fake and honestly tastes like # when you kiss them.

a reply to: dug88

Oh for sure. I'm definitely not comparing the two. Just saying the rise in skin cancer coincides with the use of tanning beds as well as the use of sunscreen.

Such a dumb choice at the time, and I knew better even.

a reply to: Atsbhct

Everybody does dumb things they regret. Tanning beds i would never doubt cause cancer, personally i've always avoided sun screen, i don't really burn much.

Personally, I'm sure if you spend every day lying exposed in the sun all day. You'll probably end up with some kind of skin cancer. Tanning beds for sure will, sunscreen seems like it likely will.

It can't be healthy coating your body in something that blocks your pores and is capable of blocking the sun's rays. It just really seems like something that in the long term cannot be healthy.

Sunglasses have also been found to be the cause of many skin cancers too. No, I'm not kidding. More and more people wear sunglasses, particularly women as a fashion statement, nit that men are totally excluded here Scientists have shown that by shading our eyes from sunlight affects our pineal gland where out melatonin and melanin are produced. One reacts to the other. So when we shade our eyes, we fool our pituitary into thinking that we don't need as much melanin.

On the other hand, you could end up like me. Hardly ever wear sunglasses (fishing is a must). Haven't used sun cream since my teens, over 40 years. About 3 years ago I started developing vitiligo on my hands. To cut a slightly longer shorter, after blood work it would appear I am overproducing antibodies who happen to love gobbling up melanin in my skin. I asked Dr if anything I could do to reverse it. I knew his answer as I had already lookied in to Vitiligo. Anyway he said no but added that I should leave things exactly as they are because I would never, ever get skin cancers because those antibodies love chewing on them cancer cells too!

Hey ho, you win some, you lose some.

Rainbows
Jane

a reply to: Atsbhct

Personally, I believe it's a combination of things we put IN and ON our bodies. From foods to lotions to soaps that make ourselves more likely to get a form of skin cancer.
I offer no proof of this but maintain awareness nonetheless.

I'm 53 and have had one spot on my cheek removed (Basil-cell carcinoma)

Nothing a little J&J talcum powder won't fix I bet 😧 oopps

a reply to: dug88
The psychology factor is even worse. "I am not pretty enough without plastering my face". I don't want to by hypocritic. I acknowledge the same could be said about tattoo. Started it to cover scars that I could not stand to see and didn't want others to stare at, so I rather got more scars, but colored ones.

Nothing changed really, people still scrutinize but now it's for the tattoo(s). So each their own but makeup is much more dangerous for the psyche, especially in young girls.

Back to topic, similar to angelchemuel, I avoid most creams, because I don't really need them a lot, same with sunscreen. I will scrutinize the ingredients in the sunscreen I have around for my daughter though. The best anti sunburn protection is slow tanning for me. After day three or four, if I didn't get one, I am good for the summer.

Tanning beds I never could stand because of the -for me- burned smell on the skin. It's strange oily and smelly afterwards, a smell I do not know naturally from my skin. I guess it's the skin fighting to churn out oils and sweat that would reflect light.

a reply to: angelchemuel

Never heard of that about the sunglasses before, but i do know wearing cheap sunglasses is bad for your eyes. If the lenses aren't polarized and don't have UV filters, you're basically just tricking your eyes into thinking it's dark, causing your pupils to dialate. Then you're essentially sticking two lenses in front of your eyes that focuses the light directly into your retina.

My wife worked as a tech for an opthalmologist for years. She seen a lot of cataracts and other degenerative eye diseases over the years. She refuses to let me wear sunglasses unless she's looked and made sure they've got the proper lenses.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

Tattoos can be cool. Some artwork i've seen is pretty amazing. Others not so much. There's so many reasons people get tattoos it's hard to judge them. My wife's got some just because she likes them, my mom got a couple before she died just because she'd always wanted but was too afraid until she was going through chemo, myself, i probably never will just because i can't think of anything I'd want on my body for the rest of my life. Also, scars are cool, there's always a story behind them.

I agree though with you and angelchemel about makeup and creams though. 90% of them are based on some kind of petrochemical product and so many of them contain all kinds of industrial chemicals, heavy metals and who really knows what.

A lot of the companies that manufacture them also have interests in petrochemical companies. It gives them a way to use chemicals and other things that would otherwise be waste products.

a reply to: dug88

A lot of the companies that manufacture them also have interests in petrochemical companies. It gives them a way to use chemicals and other things that would otherwise be waste products.

Same with fluoride, quicksilver amalgam and dentist. It's written that there is no known harmful side-effect but if you have seen how dentist handle and work with the stuff, I don't want this in my teeth to chew on and I don't need fluoride in my water because I can brush my teeth accordingly.

As if they put it in there for caring about our teeth.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

I use baking soda myself. It tastes terrible, but i don't have problems with my teeth and it's fluoride free. Thankfully, i live in a place that does not fluoridate water. Water fluoridation is unbelievably #ed up. It's gotta be one of the biggest health scams and crimes of the last 60-70 years, however long it's been going on for now.

a reply to: dug88

Here it's just trace amounts, I don't think in my region they put it inside the water. I read about some cities in the USA do this. But at the dentist they want to sell this crap to me even though I have no soft teeth, no other issues but everytime they want to sell this.

The money is probably the main driving factor though, not that they really think I need it.

I use fluoride free tooth paste, Biorepair. It's working, when I had sensitive teeth I tried this one and after two days I could bite into an ice cream cone again. It's not cheap but it lasted almost exact six months now. Of course before sending this post, I did some research if it's really working. You will find a lot of half-assed agreements and most of the time at the end of the article, the toothpaste is bad for not being fluorided. Who would have thought.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

I don't trust dentists. Only cavity i've ever had exists because a dentist decide to drill into my tooth for no reason. Unless you have actual issues with your teeth, they're kind of pointless. You can buy a dental pick and toothbrushes from the store.

Even as a kid i never liked the fluoride part of the cleaning, I'd always just empty the foam things and spit it into the tube and wait for the dentist to come back.

a reply to: dug88
Perfect teeth BUT one back teeth I bit on a stone, a few months later at the dentist, they broke through the teeths ceiling while putting some pressure on it. That hurt. Root had to be pulled, no chance of healing.

I said that I feel everything. They didn't believe me. I am was taking painkillers for my back at that time. Not during the visit though, but generally here and there as I needed them. This reason and that they didn't aim correct when injecting it into the nerve, lead to the dentist injecting the poison stuff into my root and I literally stood upright in the seat while laying horizontal.

I couldn't even scream it was hurting so bad. Tears ran down my neck and after they wanted to go at it again, I refused the treatment, told them to # off and tried to get out of the seat. I told them and if they won't let me drive I crawl home (I got home on crutches from hospital once 13km I didn't care either it took me the whole day and a bad infection but anyways....Would have been a bad idea as I was near collapse from the pain.

I allowed them to go at me again if they pump me full until I have zero feeling and I got a second and third shot. The headache afterwards! The tooth was open already and they had to continue.

a reply to: dug88

Lets point something also, since the sun tanning products has taken over the markets, the sun is your enemy, you need to stay away from it, put on tons of crappy sun tan lotions.

People are getting more cancer of the skin since the sun tanning lotions became a profit, lets no forget vitamin deficiencies also like vitamin D and the side effects of no getting enough.