Ongoing Discussion and Controversies about Skin Care Products:
Ongoing Discussion and Controversies about Skin Care Products:
Discussion of Sunscreen Chemicals Do sunscreen chemicals accumulate in the environment? Skin cancer is a real threat to both the quality and length of human life. Excessive sun exposure has been strongly correlated with rising skin cancer rates. For the last few decades, the health care industry has sought various means of protecting large numbers numbers of people from ultraviolet radiation, both UVB (short wavelength ultraviolet) and UVA (longer wavelength ultraviolet).
Most of the developments in photoprotection has been in the area of chemical protection, using a variety of filtering or absorbing chemicals in creams, lotions and spray on products, to prevent ultraviolet from reaching the skin surface.
Recently, concern has been raised that widespread use of the chemicals by a population, may result in the accumulation of the sunscreen products in waterways.
In the letter to the American Academy of Dermatology Journal editors cited below, the authors discuss the possibility that sunscreen chemicals in the water may block or prevent necessary light from reaching deeper areas of the ocean, thereby causing some loss of aquatic life especially around coral reefs.
To date, this remains a theoretical issue, but one which should be monitored closely.
Reference:
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
Letter to Editor by Jason B. Blitz, MDa, Scott A. Norton, MD, MPH
Volume 59, Issue 5, Page 898 (November 2008)
Possible environmental effects of sunscreen run-off