2-minute video:  
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/06/health/sunscreen-bloodstream-fda-study/index.html

Research found two chemicals in sunscreen, oxybenzone and octinoxate, cause 
coral bleaching, deformities and DNA damage

In the video at the above link Dr. Craig Downs, Executive Director of the 
Haereticus Environmental Laboratory, says “When you put oxybenzone sunscreen on 
your skin, 20 minutes later we can detect it in your urine.”

Dr. Downs: “It’s not just coral. It is also toxic to fish, it’s toxic to algae. 
Oxybenzone s almost like an herbicide."

It’s approved by the FDA.

Sunscreen enters bloodstream after just one day of use, study says
By Sandee LaMotte, CNN
Updated 12:16 PM ET, Mon May 6, 2019

(CNN) It took just one day of use for several common sunscreen ingredients to 
enter the bloodstream at levels high enough to trigger a government safety 
investigation, according to a pilot study conducted by the Center for Drug 
Evaluation and Research, an arm of the US Food and Drug Administration.

The study 
<https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2733085?guestAccessKey=e1ad4492-fe70-4f53-970d-d63bfa1cdccd&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=05062019>,
 published Monday in the medical journal JAMA, also found that the blood 
concentration of three of the ingredients continued to rise as daily use 
continued, and then remained in the body for at least 24 hours after sunscreen 
use ended. 

 
<https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/21/health/sunscreen-sun-protection-guide/index.html>
Sunscreen 101: Your guide to summer sun protection and sunburn care 
<https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/21/health/sunscreen-sun-protection-guide/index.html>
The four chemicals studied -- avobenzone, oxybenzone, ecamsule and octocrylene 
-- are part of a dozen that the FDA recently said needed to be researched by 
manufacturers 
<https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/health/fda-proposed-regulations-sunscreen/index.html>
 before they could be considered GRASE or "generally regarded as safe and 
effective." 
So, should you stop using sunscreen? Absolutely not, say experts.
"Studies need to be performed to evaluate this finding and determine whether 
there are true medical implications to absorption of certain ingredients," said 
Yale School of Medicine dermatologist Dr. David Leffell, a spokesman for the 
American Academy of Dermatology. He added that in the meantime people should 
"continue to be aggressive about sun protection."
"The sun is the real enemy here," said Scott Faber, senior vice president for 
government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, an advocacy 
group that publishes a yearly guide on sunscreens 
<https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/>. 
"It's not news that things that you put on your skin are absorbed into the 
body," Faber said. "This study is the FDA's way of showing sunscreen 
manufacturers they need to do the studies to see if chemical absorption poses 
health risks."
The need to screen
According to the Skin Cancer Foundation 
<https://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/skin-cancer-facts>, more 
Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer each year than all other cancers 
combined. Around the world, melanoma ranks as the 19th most common cancer in 
both men and women, says the World Cancer Research Fund 
<https://www.wcrf.org/dietandcancer/cancer-trends/skin-cancer-statistics>.

 <https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/20/health/sunscreen-pill/index.html>
The myth of the sunscreen pill 
<https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/20/health/sunscreen-pill/index.html>
In the United States, sunscreens were originally approved as an 
over-the-counter solution to sunburn. They came in two types: one using 
chemical combos to filter the sun, the other using minerals to block the sun 
such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide, which leave the tell-tale white 
coating. Not wanting to sport a white tint, the popularity of the chemical 
sunscreens soared. 
Because of the way they were used at the time, there wasn't a lot of concern 
about a potential health impact. But that soon changed, and the FDA began to 
ask the industry for safety testing, said David Andrews, senior scientist at 
EWG.
"They were originally used in small quantities to prevent sunburn on vacation," 
Andrews said. "Now they recommend applying these every day, applying them to 
large parts of your body. And the FDA began raising concerns."
A small study of sunscreen chemicals
The new FDA study enrolled 24 healthy volunteers who were randomly assigned to 
a spray or lotion sunscreen that contained avobenzone, oxybenzone, or 
octocrylene as ingredients or a crème sunscreen that contained the chemical 
ecamsule. 
The volunteers were asked to put their assigned sunscreen on 75% of their body 
four times each day for four days. Thirty blood samples were taken from each 
volunteer over seven days.
Of the six people using the ecamsule cream, five had levels of the chemical in 
their blood considered statistically significant by the end of day one. For the 
other three chemicals, especially oxybenzone, all of the volunteers showed 
significant levels after the first day.
"Looking through the results tables of the study, one thing about oxybenzone 
stood out," said David Andrews, senior scientist at EWG. "Oxybenzone was 
absorbed into the body at about 50 to 100 times higher concentration than any 
of these other three chemicals they tested."

 
<https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/09/health/hawaii-sunscreen-ban-questions/index.html>
Is your sunscreen killing coral reefs? 
<https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/09/health/hawaii-sunscreen-ban-questions/index.html>
In 2008 the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
<https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Benzophenone-3_FactSheet.html> analyzed 
urine samples collected by a government study and found oxybenzone in 97% of 
the samples. Since then, studies have shown a potential link between oxybenzone 
and lower testosterone levels <https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/ehp150/>in adolescent 
boys, hormone changes <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15191542> in men, 
and shorter pregnancies and disrupted birth weights 
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sciencedirect.com_science_article_pii_S0890623817302277-3Fvia-253Dihub&d=DwMGaQ&c=W8uiIUydLnv14aAum3Oieg&r=eBiGgXECL5TyZF9gR9BlqdKJx8U4imeJ9qFasPBXfo8&m=-UShbcMsjqUKuC95h_ILO2CwtB4-y6TsClLbFn1r8jA&s=ffFIOHE4EBXrjVIA1xqY3TCrrwhDy2n6hJlC9dNTlmY&e=>
 in babies, but researchers caution about assuming association.
Of all of the sunscreen ingredients, oxybenzone isknown to be the most common 
cause of contact allergies 
<https://www.mdedge.com/dermatology/article/80980/psoriasis/benzophenones-named-2014-contact-allergen-year>;
 a 10-year study <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23857015> found 70% of 
people had a positive patch test when exposed. 
A Swiss study 
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ingentaconnect.com_content_scs_chimia_2008_00000062_00000005_art00007&d=DwMGaQ&c=W8uiIUydLnv14aAum3Oieg&r=eBiGgXECL5TyZF9gR9BlqdKJx8U4imeJ9qFasPBXfo8&m=-UShbcMsjqUKuC95h_ILO2CwtB4-y6TsClLbFn1r8jA&s=BHpy4Oru5tplLoO-lZYocRNiemm2mezI74ivPyXaDAQ&e=>
 found oxybenzone or one of four other sunscreen chemicals in 85% of breast 
milk samples, sparking concern that newborns could potentially be exposed.
And Hawaii, the Pacific nation of Palau and Key West recently banned sunscreens 
<https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/06/us/key-west-bans-sunscreens-to-protect-reef/index.html>
 containing oxybenzone and octinoxate because they cause coral bleaching and 
are dangerous to marine ecosystems.
The European Union has mostly replaced oxybenzone in its sunscreen products 
with newer, more protective substances that block out more of the dangerous 
UV-B and UVA rays. But those newer products have not passed the safety tests 
needed for FDA approval. So oxybenzone remains in use; in fact, a 2018 report 
by EWG <https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/> estimated that it was in two-thirds of 
all chemically based sunscreens sold in the United States.
Protect yourself from the sun
In an editorial accompanying the new study, former FDA chairman Dr. Robert 
Califf assured readers that just because the study found chemical levels "well 
above the FDA guideline does not mean these ingredients are unsafe."
In a statement, the Personal Care Products Council, which is the national trade 
council for sunscreen, cosmetic and personal care products, agreed.
"The presence of sunscreens in plasma after maximal use does not necessarily 
lead to safety issues," said Alex Kowcz, chief scientist for the council. 
"It's important for consumers to know that for the purpose of this study, 
sunscreens were applied to 75% of the body, four times per day for four days -- 
which is twice the amount that would be applied in what the scientific 
community considers real-world conditions," Kowcz, said. The council was 
concerned, she said, that the FDA's study might confuse consumers and 
discourage the use of sunscreen.
The American Academy of Dermatology recommends 
<https://www.aad.org/public/spot-skin-cancer/learn-about-skin-cancer/prevent/how-to-apply-sunscreen>
 applying at least one ounce of sunscreen to all exposed skin every two hours 
or after swimming, including "back, neck, face, ears, tops of your feet and 
legs. If you have thinning hair, either apply sunscreen to your scalp or wear a 
wide‐brimmed hat. To protect your lips, apply a lip balm with a SPF of at least 
15," the academy says, adding that since UV rays are always present, sunscreen 
should be applied to exposed skin even on cloudy days and in the winter.
Research urgently needed
Califf said next steps would be appropriately designed clinical trials by 
industry to test safety and determine the optimal dose to prevent skin cancer 
while balancing risk and benefit. 
In addition, he said "an urgent question involves absorption in infants and 
children, who have different ratios of body surface area to overall size and 
whose skin may absorb substances at differential rates."
The Personal Care Products Council's statement said the industry has offered 
"state-of-the-art toxicological safety approaches as alternatives" to the FDA's 
testing method. "We look forward to our continued work with the FDA to ensure 
that consumers have access to products containing a broad variety of sunscreen 
active ingredients," Kowcz said.
While science continues to answer questions about sunscreen, Califf and other 
experts call for the public to continue to protect their skin from the 
dangerous rays of the sun.
The American Academy of Dermatology recommends choosing the two mineral 
sunscreens containing titanium dioxide and zinc oxide when possible as first 
choice. However, sunscreens that contain the 12 ingredients to be studied by 
the FDA aren't considered unsafe by the agency, and it has not suggested 
stopping their use at this time. 
There are ways to protect yourself and your family other than sunscreen, 
according to the academy. Seek shade, especially between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. 
when the sun is at its hottest, and whenever your shadow is shorter than you.. 
Use protective clothing, such as long-sleeved shirts and pants, a hat with a 
wide brim and don't forget the sunglasses.
"It's seeking shade, using clothes and when necessary using sunscreen," said 
EWG's Andrews, "but not using sunscreen to prolong your time in the sun."

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