Sunscreen Lies And More Lies

Summer is a’coming in, so goes the old British medieval folk song. And with summer starts the lies of the personal skin care product industry.

The fundamental lie is that we need sunscreen at all. Just stay out of the sun until you can tolerate it. Otherwise, we need sun. Contrary to everything you have heard, sunshine protects against melanoma.

Yes, people get skin cancers in the sun—but only people with pasty pale skin, who hide indoors all year and then go crazy on their vacation. Intense and unaccustomed radiation is what might cause skin cancers. The darkened skin of a tan is your best protection from penetrating rays, not because the tan helps but because being in the sun certainly DOES.

I repeat: suns rays protect against cancer. It’s science that goes back decades and is totally ignored by the medical profession and the skin care industry. They are both screwed up, believing in hearsay and fairy stories.

You Don’t Need Sun Block

The abominations of the personal care industry are being touted as essential for health and safety. Yet, according to one independent study, very few sunscreens protect at all and the protection factors are meaningless.

In any case, even if manufacturer were not lying (as usual), it is a scientific fact that sunblock creams only stop UVB rays and cannot stop UVA, which is the main culprit in causing skin cancer.

But there is another much more sinister reason why you would not want to slather their schlock onto your skin. Benzophenones.

Benzophenones are used in a variety of products because they protect against UV light. In small amounts, that helps to stabilize the formulations of products that are stored in clear containers, like nail polish. At higher concentrations, and when they are applied to the skin, they are powerful sunscreens.

The trouble is that benzophenones are estrogenic. So you risk breast cancer, cervical cancer, feminization in men and children and—according to a new study—endometriosis.

I dealt with thousands of endometriosis cases back in the 80s. We were the breakthrough physicians who realized it was mainly a disease of environmental stressors: bad foods, food allergies, chemicals and pollution. I was able to clear up the vast majority with just attention to these factors.

The trouble is (for women) that most of the chemical contaminants come in the form of cosmetics. I am fond of pointing out to the ladies they each woman absorbs around 2 lbs of greasy goo and chemicals through her skin every year, in the form of cosmetic preparations.

Benzophenones are easily absorbed through the skin. Studies by the CDC have found benzophenones in the urine of 97% of people tested.

It is utterly naïve to think that synthetic chemicals stay on the surface, when we use hormone patches. Why patches? Because ANY substance on the skin is rapidly absorbed. Duh!

Now benzophenones have been implicated in endometriosis

A study, by researcher Kurunthachalam Kannan, PhD, a professor of public health and environmental health sciences with the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center in Albany, and which is published in Environmental Science & Technology, measured concentrations of five kinds of chemicals called benzophenones in the urine of more than 600 women who were evaluated for endometriosis.

Endometriosis is a painful condition that occurs when tissue from the inside of the uterus grows outside of the uterus. It can lead to scarring and infertility.

According to Kannan, benzophenone-3, which appears on sunscreen labels as oxybenzone, is even more strongly estrogenic than bisphenol-A (BPA)! We all know what a threat BPA is.

But benzophenone-1 may be the worst offender. Women with the highest amounts of benzophenone-1 in their urine had a 65% greater chance of having endometriosis compared to women with the lowest levels.

Estrogen mimics may be one of the reason endometriosis is on the rise. Studies estimate that about 1 in 10 women have the condition, and some research suggests that it is becoming more common.

Predictably, the Personal Care Products Council, a group that represents cosmetics manufacturers, reacted to denounce the study, calling it “weak” and “unconvincing” and said it shouldn’t scare people away from safe sun practices, including sunscreen use. Well, it wouldn’t do to put women’s health before profits, now would it?

The Environmental Working Group publishes its own guide to sunscreen safety, and they have flagged oxybenzone, a chemical that’s found in half of all sunscreens, as an ingredient that people should avoid.

[SOURCES: Kunisue, T. Environmental Science and Technology, May 2012. Kurunthachalam Kannan, PhD, professor of public health and environmental health sciences, New York State Department of Health]