Beyond safety issues is another question: Does sunscreen even work? EWG found that nearly 75 percent of sunscreens don’t work and/or contain concerning ingredients that are readily absorbed by the body. The company said benzene is not an ingredient in its products, and it is investigating what caused its presence. It said the level of benzene present in their tests “would not be expected to cause adverse health consequences” in daily exposure — and it is recalling the products “out of an abundance of caution.” How did brand-name sunscreens become contaminated with benzene? Should you be concerned? And what can you do to protect yourself and your family? We’ve gathered answers to these questions and more. An EWG analyst warns: “Sunscreen is only one form of sun protection and should not be relied on alone. It’s also important to wear sunglasses, hats and t-shirts, stay in the shade, and avoid the midday sun.”

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States. That’s because we have made the decision to voluntarily recall all lots of four NEUTROGENA ® aerosol sunscreen product In the EWG’s 2023 best sunscreens report, the group analyzed the ingredients and labeling claims of more than 1,700 products with SPF. Your skin is your body’s largest immune system organ. Excess sun exposure can impair the immune system, but many sunscreen chemicals are readily absorbed into the bloodstream, where they could cause ill effects, too. of exposure. Benzene is ubiquitous in the environment. Humans around the world have daily exposures indoors and outdoors Scientists don’t know for sure if sunscreen helps prevent melanoma. In fact, as EWG notes in its executive summary of the sunscreen guide, “Sun exposure appears to play a role in melanoma, but it is a complex disease for which many questions have not been answered. One puzzling fact: Melanomas do not usually appear on parts of the body that get daily sun exposure.”

Benefits

Not only are they very difficult to apply effectively and evenly, but there’s some concern the ingredients could potentially cause irreversible lung damage. The truth is, the ingredients just haven’t been tested in the aerosol capacity for long-term impact on human health, like so many other everyday chemicals, unfortunately. When it comes to sunscreens, here are some of the other worst overall offenders scoring in the Red Zone (10) for major safety concerns. Overall, these products tested poorly in the EWG analysis and are considered bad choices for sun protection. Consumers should stop using these specific aerosol products and appropriately discard them. Please follow your local disposal

Sunscreens of 2023 (And Toxic Ones to Avoid) - Dr. Axe Best Sunscreens of 2023 (And Toxic Ones to Avoid) - Dr. Axe

In a previous EWG review, about 40 percent of sunscreens contained vitamin A ingredients. This type of ingredient can react with UV rays and increase the risk of skin tumors, according to government animal testing data. This builds on previous research showing that sunscreen chemicals hit the bloodstream within a day of using them — and at levels high enough to prompt a government investigation on safety. We petitioned the FDA to recall or to request recalls of the products that are 0.1 per million and above,” Light told CNN. “It’s obvious that we shouldn’t be taking that risk, and we just wanted it cleaned up.”Here’s a big takeaway that’ll make things somewhat less complicated. EWG recommends avoiding all spray sunscreens.

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The sunscreens tested by Valisure were only a tiny sample of the more than 11,000 registered sun care products on the market. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to certain cancers, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, depression, osteoporosis and many other ailments, so it’s important to get enough. Like almost anything, though, you can get too much of a good thing and want to make sure you avoid sunburns. The vast majority of tested sunscreens, however, were free of benzene, and experts stress the importance of sunscreen use to protect skin from the aging and cancerous effects of the sun.

Benzene could be a byproduct of the process of making the chemicals that companies sell to the formulators of personal care products and sunscreens. Or it could be that some of those chemicals break down into benzene, although that seems less likely,” Faber said. Benzene is a natural component of crude oil, gasoline and cigarette smoke and ranks in the top 20 chemicals used for production of “lubricants, rubbers, dyes, detergents, drugs, and pesticides,” as well as “plastics, resins, and nylon and synthetic fibers,” according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other sun-smart methods to avoid overexposures are a must. In fact, sunscreen should actually be your last line of defense against the sun after adopting other more effective measures. (More on those later.) Because the contamination was sporadic and likely occurred accidentally, there is no way for consumers to look at a label and choose a product without benzene, Faber said. Inactive ingredients often make up 50 percent to 70 percent of sunscreen formulations, and EWG urges the FDA to investigate the safety of these ingredients, too.

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We initiated this voluntary recall out of an abundance of caution. Our medical safety team worked with external experts to Getting some sun exposure is vital for good health because it helps your body create vitamin D. There are multiple ways to get vitamin D, but your best bet is to get it from standing in the sun or eating vitamin D-rich foods . In fact, sitting in the sun unexposed for about 10 minutes helps your body create roughly 10,000 units of natural vitamin D. However, you can get too much of a good thing, which is why it’s important to take steps to prevent overexposure and sunburns. But it’s very alarming, especially since the FDA does not require companies to test ingredients for contaminants, nor does it require testing for such chemicals at a finished product stage,” he added.Things may be slowing moving in the right direction, but for now, the onus is still on the consumer to find sunscreen that’s safer and actually works. Are You Using the Best Sunscreens? Samples of three Banana Boat products also contained levels of benzene at those levels: Kids Max Protect & Play Sunscreen C-Spray SPF 100, UltraMist Deep Tanning Dry Oil Continuous Clear Spray SPF 4 and Ultra Sport Clear Sunscreen Spray SPF 100. We did not have the chance of acquiring any of the Aveeno sprays, but it certainly sounds like Johnson & Johnson’s own internal testing confirms our overall concern with benzene in the sunscreens,” Light said. this product may be reported to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail or by fax.