Toxic Sunscreen
Marketing Lies, Cancer, and The Importance of Sunlight
Various substances had been used to protect the skin since ancient times, but sunscreen (a.k.a. sunblock, suncream) first underwent development for commercial production relatively recently, in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
After working on a formulation in pots and pans in his bedroom turned makeshift lab, in 1932, Australian chemist Blake Milton (bachelor of science, University of Adelaide) began production of the first commercial sunscreen. French chemist Eugène Schueller developed L’Oreal’s first sunscreen, which was released four years later.
In 1974, the SPF [sun protection factor] measurement was globally adopted as the standard rating for the protection provided by various sunscreens. In 1977, water-resistant sunscreens became available, which contributed to sunscreen’s popularity.
PABA [para-aminobenzoic acid, i.e. C7H7NO2] was introduced as a UV-absorbing sunscreen ingredient in the 1940s. In the early to mid 1990s its use began to decline due to health concerns, but it was not banned by the FDA until 2021. Derivatives of PABA still persist in ‘chemical’ sunscreens (I use the semi-quotes around chemical because technically, everything in the universe is made of chemicals). Evidence suggests that PABA actually makes DNA more susceptible to damage from UV rays, thereby increasing the likelihood of developing skin cancer, which occurs when cells with damaged or miscopied DNA proliferate.
While the cosmetic industry barrages citizens with propaganda to convince them that their sunscreen products are essential to prevent skin cancer, shockingly, the only sunscreen ingredients generally recognized as safe and effective (GRASE) by the FDA are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. These two ingredients are used in mineral-based sunscreens, which fortunately are now available in most grocery stores in the United States.
Although marketing campaigns disguised as medical advice would have us believe otherwise, the active ingredients in ‘chemical’ sunscreen are not proven to be safe. The FDA has cited insignificant evidence of safety as their reasoning for refusing to classify the 14 FDA-approved ingredients used in chemical sunscreens as GRASE. Peer-reviewed research on six of these ingredients—avobenzone, oxybenzone, octocrylene, homosalate, and octisalate—found they are detectable in the blood, urine, and breast milk a week after a single use.
An apparently common belief is the misconception that the skin does not readily absorb substances put on it. I first recognized the extent of this misconception when researching the myth that cannabis products put on the skin cannot be psychoactive. The falsehood parroted in the medical cannabis industry is that topical THC does not cross the blood-brain barrier. This is nonsense. The skin absorbs the topical cannabis formulations. Capillaries in the skin absorb substances into the bloodstream, and the blood-brain barrier is not in the skin, as falsely implied by those making this argument. The blood-brain barrier is located between the bloodstream and the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord. THC crosses this barrier however it enters the bloodstream, whether via the lungs, intestines, or skin. Also, many people may not know that ethanol (a.k.a. ethyl alcohol, the type in beverages) can be absorbed through the skin and cause intoxication. With the skin’s absorptive ability in mind, wary people use carbon-filter shower heads to prevent exposure to the various chemicals in tap water, including pharmaceuticals and pesticides like atrazine, which Alex Jones famously exclaimed “turns the freakin’ frogs gay!,” drawing ridicule for exposing a very real problem.
Although the GRASE rating—given to the mineral sunscreen ingredients titanium dioxide and zinc oxide—is better than simply being ‘approved’ by the FDA, it does not guarantee safety. As I discussed in my article ‘Healthy Circulation,’ one glaring example is the GRASE rating of tweens, a.k.a. polysorbates, which amongst other dangerous emulsifiers, are found in dairy products, processed ‘foods,’ and in some supposedly healthy versions of dietary supplements such as CoQ10, magnesium, and multivitamins. Polysorbate emulsifiers (as they’re labeled in foods and supplements) are also found in sunscreens.
Researchers have linked emulsifiers to disruption of the organization of red blood cells suspended in blood plasma, implicating them in cardiac events causing sudden deaths, as I discuss further in ‘Healthy Circulation.’ I’ve used tween-20 in a lab setting. To picture tween-20: if you imagine how potent concentrated dish soap is, imagine a colorless liquid soap that is even more concentrated. It should not be considered edible or suitable for topical use, but is nonetheless given the GRASE rating. This doesn’t necessarily mean titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are as dangerous as emulsifiers, but their GRASE rating should be taken with a grain of salt. It would be better to avoid excessive midday sun, or use a hat, collar, and sleeves for protection, rather than relying on mineral-based sunscreen.
Interestingly, oil titan John D. Rockefeller and steel titan Andrew Carnegie were largely responsible for the medically-destructive Flexner Report released in 1910. They commissioned this report in order to demonize traditional medicines, which the report concluded were “unscientific quackery,” thereby helping establish the market for the vast array of petrochemical synthetic drugs that can be synthesized from crude oil, including the aforementioned 14 sunscreen ingredients approved by the FDA.
A peer-reviewed journal study, re-published on the NIH [National Institutes of Health] website, found:
“The combined relative risk (RR) of malignant melanoma associated with sunscreen use was 1.145”
In other words, the rate of malignant melanoma went up, above 1.0 or 100% of the expected level, to 1.145. The authors concluded this was statistically insignificant. Cue Bill Gates’ favorite book “How to Lie with Statistics.” Even if you buy that this result is insignificant, the rate went up, not down! At the very least, this indicates the ineffectiveness of sunscreen for preventing skin cancer.
Now, let’s look at the rates of melanoma since the introduction of sunscreens. If ‘chemical’ sunscreens prevent skin cancer, why have the rates of melanoma steadily increased since their introduction?
Chart courtesy of https://chiasilverlining.com/blogs/cancer-care/5-rules-for-buying-sunscreen
More and more people are becoming aware of the fact that the skin uses UVB rays in sunlight to manufacture vitamin D. This growing awareness is in-part due to upstanding citizens sharing the knowledge that people with insufficient levels of vitamin D were more likely to be hospitalized from COVID, against the grain of the government actively suppressing this information. Although vitamin D is said to be important for the immune system (which is true), like the sundry roles of other vitamins, which have been oversimplified in run-of-the-mill talking points, vitamin D is important for many other cellular functions throughout the body. The roles of vitamin D include, but are not limited to: calcium absorption, anti-inflammation, glucose metabolism, and apoptosis (self-destruct mode of cancerous cells). Sunscreen inhibits vitamin D production in the skin, and lack of vitamin D has been associated with skin cancer.
A lesser-known role of sun exposure is the production of dopamine, which is important for mood and preventing depression. Likewise, the sun helps the skin produce melatonin and serotonin, hormones important for sleep and stress relief, amongst other functions.
Nitric oxide (not to be confused with nitrous oxide ‘laughing gas’) is critical for health because it triggers the relaxation and dilation of blood vessels, thereby decreasing blood pressure and allowing the blood to flow properly. I discuss this in the ‘Healthy Circulation’ article mentioned above. UVA light breaks down nitrite, leading to the production of nitric oxide, and also stimulates the release of nitric oxide from the skin into the blood.
Another role of sunlight exposure, albeit yet unproven, is the charging of sulfur compounds attached to red blood cells. The negative charge is imparted on the sulfur compounds from the photons of sunlight. Photons are essentially free-flying electrons, which Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize (in 1921) for describing as discreet packages of light that act like a particle and a wave—the wave motion is probably due to photons flying in a spiraling path which two-dimensionally appears to be a wave, like if you look side-on at a spring, but that’s a story for another article. According to Dr. Stephanie Seneff’s hypothesis, the negative charge on the red blood cells helps pull them through the tiny capillaries in single-file fashion: the venous side of the circulatory system is more-positively charged than the artery side, because of the presence of carbon dioxide in the veins, which forms carbonic acid (acids are positively charged). Therefore, the negative charge on the red blood cells attracts them to the venous side of the narrow capillaries.
These examples of the beneficial, important roles of sun exposure conjure up a noteworthy consideration: scientists do not know the totality of the roles the sun may serve in the human body. There may be many more yet-to-be-elucidated roles of enjoying some nice sunshine. It is undoubtedly important to not wholly avoid sunlight. Furthermore, sunscreen inhibits these roles and has other toxic effects, including neurotoxicity (brain and nerve damage) and endocrine disruption (hormone imbalance).
The additional danger of inhalation is presented by buoyant micro-droplets from spray sunscreens. Droplets as small as those produced by spray sunscreens are tiny enough to stay in the air for hours, and be inhaled. This route of chemical exposure is surely a health hazard, but the implications are beyond the scope of this article. To prevent inhalation of sunscreen, avoid spraying sunscreen inside, and hold your breath, even if it is mineral-based.
The lifespan of a skin cell is only about 4 weeks, and skin cells divide every 24-48 hours. Therefore it is fallacious when people say things like ‘I never wore sunscreen as a kid, and now, 30 years later, I’m paying the price with melanoma.’ Skin cancer just doesn’t take that much time to develop, and the skin cells you had last year are all long gone. And how do people think humans got by prior to the development of sunscreen? The messaging around sunscreen is largely driven by the cosmetic industry, and is a stark example of scientism—not science.
The pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic, and supplement industries in the U.S. have been allowed to run amok, due to their immense lobbying pressure on legislators. As one example—noted by environmentalist and health advocate, and 2024 presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., of Children’s Health Defense—The United States and New Zealand are the only two countries in the world that allow pharmaceutical commercials. It seems that everyone except Big Pharma agrees that these commercials, with their litanies of side effects, while advertising drugs that require doctors’ prescriptions, are absolutely ridiculous.
For optimal health, get moderate amounts of morning and evening sun, avoid getting too much sun midday, cover up when possible, and if needed, wear natural/mineral-based sunscreens. According to Dr. Maryanne Teitelbaum, a key to getting the right amount of sun (for those with light colored skin) is to leave the sun or cover up at the first sign of the skin turning pink.
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