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Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

valisure.com

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Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#151
post #28

Neutrogena is owned by Johnson and Johnson - which just payed out on a case relating to cancer from baby-powders [1]. Combined with Neutrogena being more or less _very high_ in benezine content and J&J having a very deep suite of cancer treatment drugs [2]... This seems like a horrific story of a self-fulfilling product pipeline. I know they're a giant organization and suggesting conspiracy is a bit insane but I can'…

All around classy company: https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/miracleindustry/americas... Quote from the article: “Oh, they’ve already reserved for that stuff,” one of them told me during a coffee break. He meant that in Johnson & Johnson’s financials, there had been money taken from earnings and put into a column vaguely called “accrued liabilities,” in order to account for the expected billions that might still ha…

If penalty can be labelled as a cost of doing business, is it really a penalty?

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#152
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any basis to this theory, at all, in science?

Of course there is. It's called acclimatization to UV. Humans, plants, animals are all living beings exposed to solar radiation.

There is no fitness advantage to being resistant to UV rays. natural selection isn't about you living a long and happy life. It's about you living long enough to breed and rear offspring and whatever happens afterwards doesn't really matter, as it's not selected for. Humans are fertile in 15 years. You can get skin cancer and still make successful progeny.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#153

I don't understand why people are so eager to slather chemicals on their skin, when we evolved with the sun and it's not hard for most people to avoid sun burn. You just have get sun exposure on a somewhat regular basis (healthy to do anyway) and acclimate between seasons (ie, don't go abruptly from no sun to all the sun).

It's because people's body fat has shifted towards polyunsaturated fats since they were told to avoid saturated fat.

Eating saturated fat and avoiding polyunsaturated fat I don't sunburn anymore. At all.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#154
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Affected products (starting on page 12): https://www.valisure.com/wp-content/uploads/Valisure-Citizen... Products that aren't affected: https://www.valisure.com/wp-content/uploads/Attachment-A-Tab...

>Fruit of the Earth - Gel - Aloe Vera Gel - 2.78 2.94* (ppm Benzene) Aloe Vera Gel? Sounds like straight up terrible quality standards to get benzene in an Aloe Vera gel. Stuff like like this makes me hesitant to use any product

I know aloe vera is often said to be useful in clearing benzene and formaldehyde from the air as a houseplant: perhaps this is being picked up from the environment, rather than any production issue per se?

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#155

I don't understand why people are so eager to slather chemicals on their skin, when we evolved with the sun and it's not hard for most people to avoid sun burn. You just have get sun exposure on a somewhat regular basis (healthy to do anyway) and acclimate between seasons (ie, don't go abruptly from no sun to all the sun).

[deleted]

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All around classy company: https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/miracleindustry/americas... Quote from the article: “Oh, they’ve already reserved for that stuff,” one of them told me during a coffee break. He meant that in Johnson & Johnson’s financials, there had been money taken from earnings and put into a column vaguely called “accrued liabilities,” in order to account for the expected billions that might still ha…

If anybody ever wondered, this is a concrete example of what it looks like when a company treats its negative externalities as a "cost of doing business".

In America, you could have a product that saves 1000 lives but kills 1, and you'll get your pants sued off for the one.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#157
"Epidemiologic studies and case studies provide clear evidence of a causal association between exposure to benzene and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia and also suggest evidence for chronic nonlymphocytic leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia." [1]

"There is probably no safe level of exposure to benzene, and all exposures constitute some risk in a linear, if not supralinear, and additive fashion."[2]

"on marine vessels benzene air concentrations typically range from 0.2–2.0 ppm during closed loading and 2–10 ppm during open-loading operations" [2]

[1] https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Benzene

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4360999/

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Johnson and Johnson - which just payed out on a case relating to cancer from baby-powders I asked this question in another post and did not get a reply. The US links sited state no evidence for talc causing cancer. A search of the NHS website also suggests no clear evidence [1]. Cancer Research (a respected UK charity) give a layman's summary (albeit focusing on ovarian cancer), stating no clear evidence and pointi…

> Is this because the US is so insanely litigious? Part of it is the weird setup of jury trials for civil cases, especially impactful in cases revolving around fairly technical, detail-oriented stuff like malpractice. Twelve randomly selected lay people may not be the best determiners of scientific evidence and in-depth statistical analysis.

It's enough to put people to death, so it should be enough for everything else.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No? There is nothing surprising about a cancer having more than 1 cause since more than 1 thing can cause damage to DNA.

The irony is people use sunscreen to avoid getting skin cancer, and OP is pointing out it may be causing it instead.

That’s why you need to look at all-cause mortality. Trying really hard to prevent one cancer may create enough other issues to outweigh your efforts.

The benzene and sunblock ingredients aren’t just absorbing into the skin, but into the whole body. The evidence is good that they prevent skin cancer, but…

The evidence on sunblock improving all-cause mortality isn’t clear.

Here’s one study that didn’t find a mortality difference between daily and discretionary sunblock use:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30885518/

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#160
post #155

I don't understand why people are so eager to slather chemicals on their skin, when we evolved with the sun and it's not hard for most people to avoid sun burn. You just have get sun exposure on a somewhat regular basis (healthy to do anyway) and acclimate between seasons (ie, don't go abruptly from no sun to all the sun).

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