To have crippling guilt over chemical sunscreens

Are you in the UK?

No, not at all. I feel very sorry for the OP, who is suffering significant, and unnecessary, distress. I want her to realise that it doesn’t have to be that way and that she can manage her anxiety with a bit of help.

Have you really put it on them every day though?

That's a massive overreaction. The OP does not need to see a GP about this unless this is a regular occurrence which she.has said it is not.

Just sending you a hug. I clicked on this thread as I also recently had concerns about kids sun cream. I think mainly because I only found out about any sort of link to do with any sort of cancer and sun cream from an Instagram post talking about the best mineral suncreams. I was so confused. I was like mineral sun creams? What? Why would I need that? Then googled it and was horrified at some of the stuff and the fact I had no idea there was any risk at all with it.

I’m not crying myself to sleep over it but it is a legitimate concern or query to have when it involves your health or your kid’s health. The fact-based comments on here are reassuring that maybe in the small quantities used in sun cream they are safe(ish) but I think it’s the fact that you think you’re being safe by putting sun cream on more often rather than less!

Well this is so very helpful in a post clearly made by someone with health anxiety (even if she doesn’t recognize it as such)

good days work!

Arsenic, cadmium, lead and 13 other metals have been detected in tampons sold in the European Union, the US, and the UK, that personally is more worrying to me, than some sunscreen.

Get a grip and move on. I tears about it all day OP, really?

I dont follow US news but i never ever saw it on the front page of a UK newspaper. If you saw it then it must have been short lived in the papers and on our news as i completely missed it. Iv only even heard of the scandal because i have a friend who is very big on being anti chemical/upf etc and she told me about it. From the limited info i have read, it seems like the scandal went on for years and years before johnsons actually took responsibility. Big multi state investigations against what must be one of the biggest pharma companies in the world dont just happen overnight.

As a melanoma patient I can assure you. You don't want my life for your kids.

If you have been applying sunscreen every day, that also shows that you might be quite an anxious person…( assuming you live in the UK which gets about 4 weeks of mild sun per year and we are all deficient in Vit D from lack of it.) A bit of sun isn’t bad for us, just saying.

Johnson’s talc is on sale in every UK supermarket. UK regulators would not allow it to be sold if there was compelling evidence it caused cancer in its current formulation.

Every single parent since the beginning of time gives their child something that turns out to be bad for them.

In recent generations, we have toys with lead based paint, thalidomide, ultra processed foods.

We do the best we can with the knowledge we have. And when we learn that something is unsafe, we stop using it. That's all we can possibly do.

You’d need to be drinking literal gallons of the stuff for it to cause you or your children cancer. You need to see a doctor for your anxiety.

I’m sorry, but you absolutely not ‘laid back’ if you are crying and ‘spiralling’ over an ingredient in sunscreen. You are hyper-anxious about ‘chemicals’ and you’ve just told yourself this is normal and rational and part of being ‘careful’. But it isn’t. It really, really isn’t.

This is an excellent post.

There is no such thing as chemical free.
Most are in traces smaller than those found in a glass of water.

actually it was.
It had significant media coverage in the US where the lawsuits took place and was picked up comprehensively in the UK. It’s why people know about it, to talk about it.

Every single thing in existence, including your own body, is composed entirely of chemicals. Water is made of chemicals. Oxygen is a chemical. Every single thing you’ve ever touched, eaten, worn or seen contains numerous chemicals.

It is not normal or rational to be scared of ‘chemicals’. Some chemicals are harmful in certain doses or to certain organisms. Some aren’t. Many things are toxic or carcinogenic in certain doses, but are completely harmless in the quantities in which we use or consume them.

For example, certain fruits contain cyanide. It is still perfectly safe to eat them. Brazil nuts contain a radioactive chemical. They’re fine to eat as well. Lots of perfectly healthy and natural foodstuffs which are great for humans are massively harmful to some other animals. Milk, for example (any milk - this would include human breast milk) is incredibly polluting if it gets into rivers and streams. It can wipe out practically every living thing in the water. But it’s perfectly fine for mammals to drink.

Many of the substances we need to survive would be toxic if you consumed enough of them - but you won’t ever consume enough of them. Zinc, iron and potassium are really important chemicals that we need to consume to be healthy. All three of them are dangerous if you consume an insane amount of them, though - which you would never have any reason to do because no product would ever contain enough to harm you.

Basically, just because you’ve read that a chemical can be harmful in certain contexts and to certain creatures in certain doses, that doesn’t mean it is harming you in the way you are exposed to it.

Your anxiety is extreme and fuelled by misinformation (much of that spread by so-called ‘natural’ or ‘clean’ brands making money out of scaring you). It isn’t rational or logical or based on any scientific fact, and it’s making you miserable. You do need to get yourself some help; you don’t deserve to be panicking and crying and guilt-ridden and rushing around in tears looking at the label of your handwash. That is a crappy way to live.

I work in a field where I am having to reassure people about similar concerns. There is a lot of absolute nonsense out there about the safety of many different products based on so called research and shock journalism. It causes a lot of anxiety for people. The reality is that product safety testing is rigorous and often highly regulated. We come into contact with thousands of chemicals daily… but they are in such trace amounts that they really are of no consequence.
Please try to put this from your mind. If your fears were not unfounded, this would be a national health emergency, given the amount of people who have used sunscreen on their children.

Honestly, get help for your anxiety, and that's from the mum of a kid that does have a form of cancer.

Take a moment as well to think - you say you are very laid back, but also are 'usually on top of what they’re eating, using, wearing etc', which really doesn't sound laid back to me.

Anyway even if it does slightly increase the risk of some cancers, it also lowers the risk of skin cancer, so you win some, you lose some really.

If you are worried about this ingredient, try to avoid it in the future, but it's not worth another moment of your worry about what you've used in the past.

I dont no anything about the suncream but Johnsons talc scandal wasnt front page news

Am usually on top of what they’re eating, using, wearing etc and cannot believe I was so stupid to just trust a ‘natural’ baby brand.

I’m truly not quoting you to nitpick or be horrible, because I completely relate — but in light of what you said later about normally being very laid back, I just wanted to gently say that the above stood out to me. Those sound like the words of a parent who feels her responsibilities so very deeply that it turns into a bit of a potentially problematic control and monitoring issue.

It does not sound laid back.

Give yourself a little break op, truly you can’t expect yourself to be on top of all things.