For decades, professional indoor tanning facilities have promoted sunburn prevention as a sensible approach for people who wish to incorporate UV exposure into their lives in a non-burning fashion. That includes teaching the sensible use of sunscreen outdoors on occasions when sunburn would otherwise be possible.
And for decades, public health advocacy groups funded by the sunscreen industry have opposed our messaging – saying that sunscreen should instead be worn daily and year-round – even when it’s cloudy and your only steps outside in the sun are to and from your car before and after work.
That approach is coming under fire – and from different directions.
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently published the results of a random controlled trial in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirming that the primary chemical in sunscreen – oxybenzone – leeches into a user’s bloodstream at levels far greater than had been suspected. After one application, oxybenzone levels exceeded FDA’s targets, and regular use for several days lead to levels of magnitude too high, researchers said.
- A University of Texas dermatology professor has publicly challenged public health advisories asking black-skinned people to wear sunscreen, calling such thinking “nonsensical.” In an essay titled, “Sunscreen wouldn’t have saved Bob Marley from melanoma, and it won’t help other dark-skinned people,” Dr. Adewole Adamson, who is Black, asked, “If sunscreen was important in the prevention of melanoma in dark-skinned patients, then why have we never heard of an epidemic of melanoma in sub-Saharan Africa, a region with intense sun, a lot of Black people, and little sunscreen? …The public health messages promoted by many clinicians and public health groups regarding sunscreen recommendations for dark skin people is incongruent with the available evidence.”
- Outside Magazine recently published a comprehensive article, “Is Sunscreen the New Margarine?” that straight-out called current advisories for sunscreen over-usage unhealthy and unscientific. “Avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor similar in magnitude as smoking,” the author, Rowan Jacobson, wrote, pointing to piles of new data calling for re-evaluation of unnatural sun avoidance.
Jacobson paints an absurd picture about sunscreen use and sun-care policy. “Meanwhile, that big picture just keeps getting more interesting. Vitamin D now looks like the tip of the solar iceberg. Sunlight triggers the release of a number of other important compounds in the body, not only nitric oxide but also serotonin and endorphins. It reduces the risk of prostate, breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancers. It improves circadian rhythms. It reduces inflammation and dampens autoimmune responses. It improves virtually every mental condition you can think of. And it’s free,” he wrote. “These seem like benefits everyone should be able to take advantage of. But not all people process sunlight the same way. And the current U.S. sun-exposure guidelines were written for the whitest people on earth.”
All of which paints a sunny picture for those of us who, for decades, have been promoting sunburn prevention instead of sun abstinence.
To join ASA today, visit AmericanSuntanning.org/register.
