A study conducted by Center for Drug Evaluation and Research showed that it takes just one day for harmful ingredients in sunscreen to enter the blood stream. The four chemicals include, Avobenzone, Oxybenzone, Ecamsule and Octorylene. The study was published in the medical journal, JAMA.
According to an article by CNN, the blood concentration of three of these chemicals continued to rise with daily use and remained in the body 24 hours after the use of sunscreen ended.
The medical journal mentions, the FDA had provided guidelines which said that active chemicals in the sunscreen with blood stream absorption of more than 0.5 ng/mL will have to undergo certain amount of assessments to study how toxic these chemicals really are. These tests include cancer and reproductive tests.
In the clinical trial that was conducted, 24 healthy participants were assigned to spray and lotion sunscreens that contained the four chemicals. The participants were required to put the sunscreen on only 75 percent of their bodies four times a day for four days.
The results showed prominent amounts of the chemicals in the blood and urine samples of the participants. However, according to the study, Oxybenzone was absorbed into the body at about 50 to 100 times higher in concentration than the rest of the drugs tested.
According to the article there have been potential links between Oxybenzone and low testosterone levels in adolescent boys, hormone changes in men and shorter pregnancies and disrupted birth weights in babies.
Therefore, it is recommended to avoid sunscreens with Oxybenzone and the above mentioned chemicals. Chemicals in sunscreen make one more prone to skin cancer which one of the most common cancers in the world.
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