It takes just one day for a number of common ingredients found in sunscreen to enter a person’s bloodstream, according to research from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Between July and August 2018, scientists studied four chemicals commonly found in sunscreen: vobenzone, oxybenzone, ecamsule and octocrylene.
Participants applied one of either a lotion-sunscreen, cream-sunscreen or two sprays, four times a day for four days on areas of the body uncovered by their swimwear. 30 blood samples were collected from each participant over a period of seven days.
Upon analyzing plasma levels in the participants’ blood samples, scientists found that the level of active ingredients in their bloodstreams was high enough to spark a government investigation.
The four chemicals were discovered to have entered the bloodstream at levels that exceed the FDA’s recommended threshold without a government safety inspection.
The chemical oxybenzone stood out among the four chemicals as the one that was absorbed into the bloodstream at the highest rate. It was discovered at levels as high as 209.6 ng/mL.
David Andrews, senior scientist at The Environmental Working Group said: ”Looking through the results tables of the study, one thing about oxybenzone stood out.
”Oxybenzone was absorbed into the body at about 50 to 100 times higher concentration than any of these other three chemicals they tested.”
Despite the findings, experts urge people to continue using sunscreen. The study emphasized that the research does not “indicate that individuals should refrain from the use of sunscreen.”
Dr. David Leffell, a Yale School of Medicine dermatologist and spokesman for the American Academy of Dermatology, told CNN, “Studies need to be performed to evaluate this finding and determine whether there are true medical implications to absorption of certain ingredients.”
In a joint announcement, Janet Woodcock, M.D., director at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and Theresa M. Michele, M.D., director of CDER’s Division of Nonprescription Drug Products, Office of New Drugs said product absorption into the bloodstream does not necessarily mean it is unsafe.
“Such testing is part of the standard pre-market safety evaluation of most chronically administered drugs with appreciable systemic absorption.”
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