“Sun cream causes cancer”

[Soubriquet]

I nearly got involved with this on Facebook before realising there was no point and walked away.

I mean….how do you argue with people who genuinely believe stuff like this?

Anyone else come across this?

Never heard of this ?! How ?? 😳

No idea. They claim that’s why people get skin cancer.

It’s not the sun nooooo. It’s the sun cream.

I honestly didn’t even try to bother arguing it because they were adamant they were right

Yeah, premier inn over breakfast. One adult loudly worrying because they had allowed their child to get horribly sun burnt. Other adult reassured her that there is nothing wrong with sun burn, it's sun cream causes skin cancer. I bit my tongue.

Are they arguing that the sun cream itself causes cancer or that people tend to over rely on sun cream and underestimate the amount they need/frequency of application to protect themselves? I see the point of the latter a bit in that it can lull you into a false sense of security so you think you can go out in the sun when you shouldn't.

No. Skin cream itself causes cancer.

The sun is good for your skin and it doesn’t matter if you get burnt.

In that case, they're idiots and there's no arguing with stupid.

This has been reported with some brands being withdrawn
link below

edition.cnn.com/2021/07/17/health/sunscreen-recall-cancer-wellness/index.html

I wonder if that's to do with an announcement last year that out of date sun cream can cause cancer. It was all over the news last year.

Sorry OP, but historically there are been some very toxic chemicals in sunscreens. Which have then been subsequently banned (although still frequently appear in US sunscreens). If you can avoid sunscreen - by staying out of the sun / covering up - then I certainly would.

https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/report/the-trouble-with-sunscreen-chemicals/

Bite your tongue. I knew a woman who did research for cancer uk and she creamed her kids all over.

Look at Australia if you want to see the positive benefits of sunscreen.

And AFAIK no recalls of dodgy products there.

The level of confirmation bias is staggering - I wonder if they also eschew ready meals and processed foods because there were recalls on certain brands of them?

There really are some stupid people in the world, aren't there?

What next - learning to swim makes you drown?

The idea that some sunscreens are potentially causing cancer is gaining some traction in the US, but not quite in the same way as you witnessed on Facebook.

As far as I understand it, it’s not so much that all sunscreens cause skin cancer but some ingredients in chemical sunscreens are suspected to be carcinogenic and are absorbed by the skin at levels higher than are known to be safe.

See brief article from Yale medicine Here

There are plenty of sunscreens available in the US market that do not use these chemicals. A good few of these are also marketed as reef friendly, as certain chemical sunscreens are banned in certain states anyway, e.g. Hawaii, due to the harm these chemicals are causing to coral reefs.

SPF clothing ie. long sleeved swim rash vests are also being proposed as part of the solution until more is known.

My dermatologist (not Yale) has advised me to be cautious so yes, I’m reading the ingredients labels of sunscreen.

I don’t think there is the suggestion that sunburn is better than sunscreen. If someone is arguing that, they may have the wrong end of the stick.

I am not anti sunscreen. I use it. However some brands contain “forever chemicals” which cause all sorts of problems from endocrine issues to cancer to infertility and so on. These are synthetic chemicals used in the product industry.

rule of thumb is avoid not just sunscreen but any cosmetic product containing the word fluoro or PTFE.

It's something to do with old sunscreen degrading chemically and causing issues. Cancer? Not sure what exactly. Was a proper article recently somewhere.

Everything causes cancer according to some.

I read this week that fish causes cancer, yet fish also helps combat dementia. HRT increases the risk of cancer, but it helps women go through menopause.

Organ transplant increases the risk of cancer, yet it also helps people to live a normal life.

So it’s Sophie’s choice really. Depends what you’re prepared to die of I suppose.

I’m always wary of exposure to things our bodies weren’t designed for. Some sun cream could contain an ingredient that causes cancer. History is full of examples of things people thought were perfectly safe and turned out to be dangerous. I can’t prove conclusively that they have no right to be concerned.

however, I do know the harmful effects of sunburn. I’ve felt it far too many times being someone who burns easily and spending my early childhood at a time when spf 4 was the highest protection available. It doesn’t feel good even in the short term. In the long term we know that too much sun does cause cancer.

as for vitamin d. Someone like me can get enough with barely any exposure to the sun. Some people need more. People obviously need to be smart about balancing those needs, but someone who has low vitamin d absorption is unlikely to be motivated to frequently slather on suncream.

I read an "article" about how wearing sunglasses causes cancer. People are strange.

If people are worried about chemical sunscreens, then there are plenty of good mineral ones. These contain zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which don't penetrate the skin but sit on the surface of the skin and deflect UV rays.

Mineral sunscreen used to be thick horrible stuff, but it is much better formulated these days.

I used to visit an NHS dermatologist many years ago and they had an article on their notice board about dangerous chemicals in sunscreen.

I don't use it much myself - prefer to limit my exposure to the sun (which as we all know does cause cancer).

There’s a direct link between alcohol consumption and breast cancer but it’s a link we like to ignore.

In a funny way it does. People who can't swim tend to stay away from water. People who can swim are more likely to over estimate their confidence or get into difficulty in open water and are more likely to drown.

Our bodies also were not evolved for the current strength of the sun due to depletion of the ozone layer. I'll take the lower risk of sunscreen.

I'm pretty sure knowing how to swim makes you less likely to drown, but I take the point that someone who doesn't know how to swim may stay away from water.