Are sunscreens increasing skin cancer rates?
Even suggesting this would have seemed outrageous until just recently, although many of us had noticed that as the use of sunscreens spread rates of skin cancer were going up, not down.
A recent study is now suggesting that a common ingredient in sunscreen could be responsible for higher skin cancer rates. The ingredient is retinyl palmitate, a synthetic form of vitamin A included in most sunscreens as an antioxidant that slows skin aging. However, it now seems that when exposed to sunrays this chemical accelerates the formation of cancerous tumors in the skin.
In addition, other ingredients in sunscreens raise concerns and require more study. One of these is the chemical oxybenzone because it has been shown to penetrate the skin and enter the bloodstream where even at very low concentrations it disrupts hormone function.
Read about the study here: http://www.aolnews.com/health/article/study-many-sunscreens-may-be-accelerating-cancer/19488158.
