Why you should use Natural Sunscreen

Chemical SPF

When it comes to sunscreen, we should be aware that there are two types of protection, chemical and physical screens. Chemical SPF is made from petrochemical sunscreen that is absorbed into the top layers of the skin where they convert UV rays into heat, preventing it from penetrating further into the body. Chemical sunscreens include active ingredients such as oxybenzone, avobenzone, octisalate, octocrylene, homosalate, or octinoxate. A formulation often combines several of these chemicals working together to provide extended protection. The appeal of chemical sunscreens is that they are typically invisible to the eye, and since they soak into skin, they leave behind no greasy feel or unwanted tint.

What’s the concern with Chemical Sunscreen?

The concern with chemical sunscreens lies in what we don’t know about them. While there is some evidence to suggest that petrochemical sunscreens e.g. oxybenzone, homosalate, octocrylene, are linked to a number of toxicities and diseases, we in fact know so little about their safety that in 2019 the FDA in the US determined there was “insufficient safety data” to determine if they were safe or unsafe. A position they reaffirmed in  September 2021. The TGA in Australia also adopts the same position, and so these chemicals remain in limbo, not classified as generally recognised as safe and effective (GRASE) but nor have they been determined as unsafe, and so are still used in the products you can purchase today.

Chemical Contamination

There is mounting scientific evidence to show that our personal care products including sunscreen contain trace amounts of contamination by various toxic chemicals. In May 2021 Valisure -an independent testing and consumer advocacy organisation, released findings from their testing that found unacceptably high levels (up to 3 times the permissible trace limit) of benzene in 78 well-known sunscreens. Benzene is a known human carcinogen, even at very low levels it is closely linked to leukemia and other blood cancers.

Although banned for use in personal care products, benzene is a chemical solvent that is used widely in the production of other chemicals, including chemical sunscreens such as octocrylene. The contamination occurs during the manufacturing process which fails to completely remove the benzene solvent from the final synthetic material. The result is end products contaminated with toxic chemicals that are never disclosed or form part of the ingredient list.

What about the environment?

Beyond the significant concern for public health, there is also evidence that both chemical sunscreens and benzene pose a serious risk to the environment, marine ecosystems, and waterways.

We know that SPF readily enters our marine ecosystems when it washes off our skin either through swimming in the ocean or in the shower at home. It also enters our waterways from runoff of discarded product containers in landfill. The chemical components in chemical SPF and benzene do not readily break down in the environment, rather they bioaccumulate, and so the potential for these sunscreen products to threaten coral reefs and other marine life is compounding and reaching critical impact.

Unfortunately, benzene contamination is a broad and very concerning issue inherent in the consumer product supply chain. In a perfect world the supply chain would be regulated, and contamination identified and rectified at the source of the raw synthetic ingredients. However, the current regulatory gaps regarding benzene in both drug and cosmetic products are complex and slow to resolve. Instead, we rely on manufacturers to quickly investigate and remove contaminated products from the market.

So what if the question wasn’t about how to regulate these companies and manufacturers but rather why they continue to use questionable or contaminated ingredients in their products in the first place? What safer SPF alternatives are there?