You’re smart. When you are out in the sun during the summer months, you put on sunscreen to prevent sunburn and worse, cancer. However, a new study questions whether doing so is wise, to say nothing of being effective. The study reports that ingredients in many brands, including the most popular ones, may actually INCREASE the risk of cancer. And that’s not the only health problem associated with them.

It isn’t just a single, common ingredient that this recent research has raised some concerns about, it’s far worse than that. Yes, far worse. Many widely available sunscreens contain potentially dangerous ingredients, provide inadequate protection and are portrayed by their marketers as far more helpful than they actually are. The list of offenders includes leading brands that you know and trust and even some products designed just for babies.

When the Environmental Working Group issued its 2010 guide to the best and worst sunscreens, the non-profit watchdog gave its OK to just 39 products, which amounts to a mere 8% of the 500 sunscreens evaluated!

The FDA bears some serious responsibility for this problem, the FDA has had no mandatory regulations for sunscreens or their ingredients. Shockingly, companies have not been required to verify that their sunscreens work, to test that their sun protection factor (SPF) levels are accurate, or to show that other claims, such as whether they are waterproof or protect against UVA rays, hold up. Here are some of the the various health hazards hiding in your sunscreen:

Danger: Cancer-Causing Ingredients

Nearly half the sunscreens examined by EWG contained one or two cancer-causing ingredients. One is a hormone-disrupting chemical that penetrates the skin, disrupting the normal functioning of the body in ways that can lead to cancer and other serious medical problems; the other is a vitamin A derivative that when exposed to sunlight, yes sunlight, may encourage skin cancer.

Advice: Avoid sunscreens with the dangerous ingredients Oxybenzone and Retinyl palmitate. Oxybenzone is a hormone-disrupting chemical linked with endocrine disruption and cell damage (and low birth weight when used by pregnant women). Oxybenzone can penetrate the skin and enter your bloodstream and is an ingredient in about half of sunscreens, yes halt. And Retinyl palmitate is a vitamin A compound associated with the accelerated growth of skin lesions and tumors. Manufacturers put vitamin A derivatives in sunscreens because they are popular antioxidants that slow signs of aging, such as wrinkles and rough skin. But FDA data suggest that vitamin A has photo-carcinogenic properties, which means that when exposed to the sun, it may speed up cancer formation. EWG found retinyl palmitate in 41% of sunscreens.

Danger: No UVA Protection

Many sunscreens offer protection only from UVB rays, the type of ultraviolet radiation that causes sunburn, while it is known that UVA rays are also destructive and can cause skin cancer. In addition to all those other unattractive things the sun can do to our skin over time.

Advice: EWG recommends purchasing broad-spectrum sunscreens that derive their protective properties not from chemicals that penetrate the skin, but from the metals titanium or zinc, which stay on the surface of the skin, do their job to protect you and then can be washed off entirely.

Danger: Accidental Inhalation

Sunscreens are meant for external use only, but when you use them in the increasingly popular spray or powder forms, you are in danger of inhaling them. While inhaled particles of any size can pose a health risk, tiny nanoparticles, ultra-tiny particles used in many of these formulations, can more easily penetrate linings and tissues in your body and cause inflammation.

Advice: EWG suggests using sunscreens only in cream or lotion form and says not to apply any type of sunscreen to broken skin.

Danger: Burns

The high SPF levels touted on many sunscreen labels are a growing concern at EWG. The organization says that these claims are misleading because the products may not provide more protection than sunscreens labeled with lower SPFs; and people may therefore be misled into thinking that the higher number means that they can spend more time in the sun. It’s not widely understood that SPF applies to only one type of cancer-causing ultraviolet ray: UVB. It tells you nothing about a product’s ability to filter UVA rays. That’s a false sense of security. People end up staying out in the sun longer than they can safely tolerate.

Advice: Apply safe sunscreen in lavish amounts. Studies show that most consumers use only one-quarter to two-thirds of the amount needed to reach a product’s SPF rating. Sunscreen should be applied generously (about an ounce or palmful to cover all exposed skin), early (30 minutes before sun exposure) to allow its protective capabilities to work and often, typically every two hours (more often when swimming or exercising enough to make you sweat). There’s no consensus on an optimal SPF: The American Cancer Society recommends that you use a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15, while the American Academy of Dermatology says 30 and the FDA says that any SPF rating above 50 is “inherently misleading.”

Hall of Shame: The Worst Offenders

Beware of sunscreens with SPF ratings higher than 50, especially when combined with “baby” on the label. The implication is that they are ultra safe, but the reality is that many offer little or no UVA protection and some also contain dangerous ingredients. The EWG’s “Hall of Shame” indicts:

• Banana Boat Baby Max Protect, SPF 100: No UVA protection, and it contains oxybenzone and vitamin A.
• Aveeno Baby Continuous Protection, SPF 55: Label says “mild as water,” but warns “keep out of reach of children and seek medical help from poison control center if ingested.” Doesn’t really seem like it is “mild as water” does it? Also contains oxybenzone.
• Banana Boat Ultra Defense Sunscreen Stick, SPF 50: Misleading advertising says “it doesn’t break down,” which might lead consumers to think it will last all day. It doesn’t.
• Hawaiian Tropic Baby Crème Lotion, SPF 50: Does not have the advanced UVA protection advertised on the label, and also contains oxybenzone and vitamin A.

See a full list of EWG’s lowest-rated sunscreens at http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen/buyer-beware/.

Hall of Fame: Top-Rated Sunscreens

All 39 of EWG’s top-rated sunscreens contain either zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. Top recommendations include:

• All Terrain Aquasport Performance Sunscreen, SPF 30
• Badger Sunscreen for Face and Body, SPF 30
• Loving Naturals Sunscreen, SPF 30+
• Purple Prairie Botanicals Sun Stick, SPF 30
• Soleo Organics All Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30+

See a full list.

Even these EWG-approved products aren’t perfect, as they contain nano particles.

Dangerous Sunscreen Ingredients: Oxybenzone and Retinyl Palmitate.

Is Oxybenzone Dangerous? Yes it is.

Why is Oxybenzone Dangerous? Oxybenzone screws up the hormones in your body and is linked with endocrine disruption and cell damage. It has caused low birth weight when used by pregnant women. Oxybenzone can penetrate the skin and enter your bloodstream quickly and is an ingredient in about half of sunscreens.

Source(s):

Nneka Leiba, MPH, research analyst, Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org), Washington, DC.

Reprinted with the permission of:
Bottom Line Publications/Daily Health News
Boardroom Inc.
281 Tresser Blvd., 8th Floor
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A recent study reported that in some communities people regularly shower with a dangerous microbe called Mycobacterium avium — a cousin of the tuberculosis-causing bacteria and one that is quite infectious in its own right.

The University of Colorado-Boulder study is part of a larger research project focused on bacteria to which people are regularly exposed. This particular study examined showerheads because they provide ideal conditions for the formation of slimy biofilms — an assemblage of bacteria that attach themselves to a surface and excrete a protective mesh layer around themselves (dental plaque is an example), making them difficult to eradicate. Theorizing that the shower might be the point of entry for this infection, lead researcher Leah Feazel told me that researchers collected samples from the insides of 45 showerheads in 9 US cities up to three times over the course of a 2.5 year period. They found M. avium in both Denver and New York showerheads.

Confirming the finding, small amounts of M. avium were also detected in the water systems in both Denver and New York City. In those cities, the concentration of Mycobacteria (of which M. avium is one species) in some showerheads was more than 100 times that in the background water. Researchers theorize that this happened because the biofilms were able to establish colonies of such significant size that they could not be dislodged even by water regularly flowing through. Both municipalities treat their water systems with chlorine, ostensibly to eradicate such dangers, but M. aviumare is known to be resistant; so the bacteria that survive become even stronger. Since many species of Mycobacteria have been implicated in respiratory and other kinds of infections, this is a cause for concern.

Why Showers are Especially Risky

M. avium is common in soil and water, but it’s especially dangerous in showerheads because it is dispersed in aerosol form, which is inhaled and can travel deep into the lungs. Like its relative, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. avium primarily causes lung disease, but it has also been known to cause digestive and lymphatic system infections. According to Feazel, M. avium infections are rare in people with healthy immune systems and “fairly rare” among the immune-compromised — but they’re on the rise here in the US as well as in the rest of the developed world. The infections caused by M. avium can lead to especially severe illness for people with compromised immune systems, often requiring antibiotic treatment that may be only marginally effective.

How to Be Sure You’re Safe

Since M. avium is so difficult to kill, individuals known to be immune deficient — including pregnant women, people with asthma or bronchitis, those who’ve had an organ transplant, and those with cancer or other chronic disease — should ask their doctors whether they should bathe instead of showering. Alternatively, Feazel suggests that people with compromised immune systems would do well to change their showerheads every six months (researchers found no M. avium in showerheads less than six months old) and to choose metal ones, which are less hospitable to biofilms than plastic.

Source(s):

Leah M. Feazel was the lead researcher on the showerhead study. She was head technician at the Pace Laboratory, University of Colorado-Boulder, and is currently a graduate student in Environmental Science and Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado.

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Reprinted with the permission of:
Bottom Line Publications/Daily Health News
Boardroom Inc.
281 Tresser Blvd., 8th Floor
Stamford, CT 06901
www.BottomLineSecrets.com