Benzene detected in many sunscreen products • Hacker News Board

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#171

Post by TheManInThePub » Wed, May 26, 2021, 7:20 PM UTC

mikeyouse wrote: post #89

TheManInThePub wrote: post #58

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…

We know that asbestos causes mesothelioma and that J&J baby powders contained asbestos since talc/asbestos are often found together in mines. J&J knew for decades that they were shipping asbestos to consumers in a powder form that's regularly inhaled -- they ghost-wrote and sponsored studies to deny that asbestos existed in their products and lied to the FDA in their disclosures.. https://www.reuters.com/investigates…

> It seems that most talc doesn't cause cancer -- but some talc has "rather high" amounts of asbestos in it -- which we know causes cancer.

So no evidence, just suspicion?

I must be blunt and say this has left me more puzzled why the US courts have ruled the way they have.

EDIT: Down votes again for asking a question? Explain yourselves. Are people defending something without evidence?

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#172

Post by Geee » Wed, May 26, 2021, 7:21 PM UTC

I knew it.. Skin cancer is caused by these products. No wonder why skin cancer numbers are going up all the time.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#173

Post by germinalphrase » Wed, May 26, 2021, 7:22 PM UTC

nitrogen wrote: post #82

soheil wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny you say that because I specially like the smell of gasoline, kind of like smell of glue or diesel exhaust. I know, kind of weird but I know a lot of other people who are in the same boat.

I've heard but cannot verify that eating more potassium will make it smell bad again. That is, that a mineral deficiency may cause some things to smell good that otherwise wouldn't.

I know someone who had an intensely positive reaction to wet, musky smells (think basements, dirt, old carpets, that sort of thing). Their doctor put them on vitamins for a separate issue and the attraction went completely away.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#174

Post by contemporary343 » Wed, May 26, 2021, 7:22 PM UTC

Robotbeat wrote: post #26

Gasoline has around 2% Benzene in it, by the way. That’s 20,000ppm vs 6ppm for the worst offenders here. Crazy we let teenagers pump this stuff and then the rest of us just breathe in the fumes.

This is why you should live as far away from a gas station as you can!

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#175

Post by contemporary343 » Wed, May 26, 2021, 7:24 PM UTC

A related point: check how close you (and your kids especially) live/ work/ go to school near a gas station. Benzene exposure from living near a gas station is surprisingly high and there's a definition cancer correlation.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#176

Post by dcolkitt » Wed, May 26, 2021, 7:29 PM UTC

contemporary343 wrote: post #175

A related point: check how close you (and your kids especially) live/ work/ go to school near a gas station. Benzene exposure from living near a gas station is surprisingly high and there's a definition cancer correlation.

How close is close out of curiosity?

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#177

Post by linuxftw » Wed, May 26, 2021, 7:31 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #162

linuxftw wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Twelve randomly selected lay people shouldn't get to decide to allow the State to kill people, either.

No argument here. I was just point out how trivial our systems are, and we still kill other humans based on the feelings other humans.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#178

Post by throwkeep » Wed, May 26, 2021, 7:35 PM UTC

rsync wrote: post #170

throwkeep wrote: post #51

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 not hard for most people to avoid sun burn. You just have get sun exposure on a somewhat regular basis ..." Or, even simpler, and less controversial: Just buy some super lightweight, long sleeved shirts ... like capilene zero or equivalent. And put on a sun hat. Problem solved.

Yes, thanks, I should have added that too.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#179

Post by dcolkitt » Wed, May 26, 2021, 7:36 PM UTC

jpmattia wrote: post #21

My family recently went through the search for a decent sunscreen and settled on this link for useful info about which sunscreens have nasty chemicals: https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/ Our search was not exhaustive (and I can't really vouch for the link that was used) so if you have a better link, please don't keep it a secret.

I'm gonna make a radical suggestion. Maybe just try ditching sunscreen altogether. Yes, it's probably true that exposure to the sun increases the risk of skin cancer. But in the US skin cancer accounts for fewer than 1% of all deaths.

In contrast the quintile of people with the highest exposure to the sun have half the all-cause mortality as the quintile with the lowest sun exposure.[1] In particular sunbathers enjoy significantly lower rates of heart disease, liver cancer, colon cancer, and neurodegenerative disease.

It seems counterintuitive, but it's probably smart to accept the higher risk of skin disease. If you quadruple your skin cancer risk, but lower your heart disease risk by 10%, you're still ahead of the game. Heart disease is 50 times as likely to kill you.

Unless you're going to be outside for very extended periods of time, ditch the sunscreen. It's not needed unless you're at the point of burning. Getting a healthy tan is just that healthy and natural.

[1]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24697969/

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#180

Post by ad404b8a372f2b9 » Wed, May 26, 2021, 7:39 PM UTC

TheManInThePub wrote: post #171

mikeyouse wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We know that asbestos causes mesothelioma and that J&J baby powders contained asbestos since talc/asbestos are often found together in mines. J&J knew for decades that they were shipping asbestos to consumers in a powder form that's regularly inhaled -- they ghost-wrote and sponsored studies to deny that asbestos existed in their products and lied to the FDA in their disclosures.. https://www.reuters.com/investigates…

> It seems that most talc doesn't cause cancer -- but some talc has "rather high" amounts of asbestos in it -- which we know causes cancer. So no evidence, just suspicion? I must be blunt and say this has left me more puzzled why the US courts have ruled the way they have. EDIT: Down votes again for asking a question? Explain yourselves. Are people defending something without evidence?

It's not uncommon, science does not hold the ultimate truth of the world, it's a complex system based on intuition and beliefs and politics. Medical responsibility is highly complex and it does not follow the same rules (thankfully). In Europe, courts have been compensating people who got multiple sclerosis induced by the Hep B vaccine for decades even though there is no evidence of a causal link.