Benzene detected in many sunscreen products • Hacker News Board

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#21

Post by jpmattia » Wed, May 26, 2021, 5:02 PM UTC

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.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#22

Post by Judgmentality » Wed, May 26, 2021, 5:02 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #20

t0mbstone wrote: post #10

What if skin cancer was actually caused by sun screen? Wouldn't that be ironic, don't ya think?

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.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#23

Post by purple_ferret » Wed, May 26, 2021, 5:03 PM UTC

netizen-936824 wrote: post #12

tyingq wrote: post #4

Pretty interesting. Some of the products where benzene was detected don't even have anything volatile on their list of active ingredients. "Ethical Zinc Lotion", is just supposed to be 22% zinc oxide, with no Octocrylene, Oxybenzone, etc.

Does volatility imply constituents? A quick search shows that oxybenzone is a compound containing two carbon rings.

Benzene is used as a precursor for many solvents (in addition to being one itself). IIRC, many things are washed with benzene derivatives and that's where a lot of contamination concern is.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#24

Post by morsch » Wed, May 26, 2021, 5:03 PM UTC

On a related note: Benzophenone Accumulates over Time from the Degradation of Octocrylene in Commercial Sunscreen Products

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemrestox.0c00461

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#25

Post by anoonmoose » Wed, May 26, 2021, 5:03 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #20

t0mbstone wrote: post #10

What if skin cancer was actually caused by sun screen? Wouldn't that be ironic, don't ya think?

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

There is something surprising about a cancer being caused by a treatment that is intended to prevent that same cancer for occurring though

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#26

Post by Robotbeat » Wed, May 26, 2021, 5:03 PM UTC

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.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#27

Post by cholmon » Wed, May 26, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #20

t0mbstone wrote: post #10

What if skin cancer was actually caused by sun screen? Wouldn't that be ironic, don't ya think?

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

Sure, but skin cancer caused by the very stuff that's supposed to help prevent it? A little too ironic, I really do think.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#28

Post by erulabs » Wed, May 26, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

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't help but think I'll be avoiding J&J and all their subsidiary brands actively from here on out. At very least, their quality control for one of the biggest manufacturers on earth is awful.

1: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/health/baby-powder-cancer...

2. https://www.barrons.com/articles/johnson-johnson-stock-pipel...

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#29

Post by rangoon626 » Wed, May 26, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

t0mbstone wrote: post #10

What if skin cancer was actually caused by sun screen? Wouldn't that be ironic, don't ya think?

Take that same thinking to other personal care and cleaning products, and start to go through your bathroom and kitchen. You’ll be surprised at what we’re being low-grade poisoned with each day.

Re: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

#30

Post by CydeWeys » Wed, May 26, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

Judgmentality wrote: post #22

lotsofpulp wrote: post #20

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.

... quite possibly still not as much as if they hadn't used it, though. So maybe not that ironic.