So what are the best sunscreens out there? Let’s take a look. The Best Sunscreens of 2023: For Recreation

Sunscreens of 2023 (And Toxic Ones to Avoid) - Dr. Axe Best Sunscreens of 2023 (And Toxic Ones to Avoid) - Dr. Axe

You should consider sunscreen your last resort to prevent sunburns, though. In fact, there’s no clear evidence that using sunscreens actually prevents skin cancer — including in the best sunscreens — and some ingredients may actually fuel skin cancer . However, you can get too much of a good thing, which is why it’s important to take steps to prevent overexposure and sunburns. To get approved for the EWG VERIFIED mark, products must first be formulated to achieve our criteria for ingredient safety, the same requirement that thousands of EWG VERIFIED cosmetics have to meet. Sunscreens must also meet performance criteria to ensure strong UVA protection. EWG VERIFIED frees consumers from the same limited sunscreen options every year. Sunscreen Chemicals Build Up in Your BloodThe Personal Care Products Council, an industry association, said its members were “firmly committed” to providing products with “ingredients that have been thoroughly tested for safety and follow the requirements of the law.” The good news is you can get enough vitamin D and protect yourself from burns without always turning to sunscreen. How to Avoid Too Much Sun People can tell the FDA to require over-the-counter sunscreen product companies to test for contaminants like benzene, and people can tell Congress to pass laws to modernize cosmetics safety laws,” he said. Europe continues to do a far better job at sunscreen regulation than the U.S. “EWG estimates that most sunscreens sold in the U.S. would be too weak for the European market because they don’t filter UVA rays well enough. An EWG study of laboratory tests of 51 sunscreen products found that only 35 percent of the products tested met the EU standard, but 94 percent would pass the current U.S. standard.”

Beach Defense® Oxybenzone-Free Sunscreen Stick - Neutrogena Beach Defense® Oxybenzone-Free Sunscreen Stick - Neutrogena

We initiated this voluntary recall out of an abundance of caution. Our medical safety team worked with external experts to To date, CNN was not able to verify that any of these products have been recalled following Valisure’s request to that effect to the FDA. The effects of sunscreen may linger longer than expected, too. An U.S. Food and Drug Administration-led 2020 study found that “chemical sunscreen ingredients are systemically absorbed after one application, and some ingredients can stay in the blood for at least three weeks.”The sunscreens tested by Valisure were only a tiny sample of the more than 11,000 registered sun care products on the market. The companies recently pulled several sunscreens from market shelves after independent testing had found they were contaminated with a cancer-causing chemical called benzene. Your skin is your body’s largest immune system organ. Excess sun exposure can impair the immune system, but many sunscreen chemicals are readily absorbed into the bloodstream, where they could cause ill effects, too. Benzene could be a byproduct of the process of making the chemicals that companies sell to the formulators of personal care products and sunscreens. Or it could be that some of those chemicals break down into benzene, although that seems less likely,” Faber said. CVS Health also stopped selling two of its after-sun care products due to similar findings. But other sunscreens and after-sun cosmetics, which also tested positive for the toxin, remain on the market (the full list is below).

Neutrogena Aerosol Sunscreen Voluntary Recall Statement - Neutrogena

In response to Valisure’s petition, the FDA told CNN that it “evaluates and assesses the information provided in citizen petitions of this type and, generally, initiates an independent testing and verification process.” If you’re opting for sunscreen for protection from overexposure to the sun, EWG advises to opt for mineral-based sunscreen products with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide active ingredients and avoid products with ingredients like oxybenzone and retinyl palmitate. Environmental Working Group’s 17th annual Guide to Sunscreens is a mix of good and bad news when it comes to the state of sunscreens sold in America and beyond. For instance, oxybenzone — a suspected hormone-disrupting chemical that is readily absorbed into the body — is used much less in the more than 1,700 products EWG examined, but it was still found, as were other troubling ingredients. Another spray, Neutrogena’s Cool Dry Sport, and CVS Health’s After-sun Aloe Vera Moisturizing Gel, tested at .01 to 2 parts per million of benzene in some samples. According to EWG, most sunscreens sold in the U.S. would not be sold in Europe, which sets much more stringent UVA standards.According to J&J, daily exposure to benzene in these sunscreen products “at the levels detected in internal testing would not be expected to cause adverse health consequences.”