Some social media influencers are pushing the opposition to commercial sunscreen because the chemicals the contain.
Their argument is the toxic chemicals in the topical skin lotions and sprays seep into the blood stream.
Dermatologists and others acknowledge some chemicals can get below the skin’s surface but not at harmful levels and that no sunscreen is dangerous consider the high risk of skin cancer and its potentially deadly consequences.
“Like the anti-vaccine universe, the anti-sunscreen world of fitness coaches, alt-medicine peddlers, ‘wellness’ gurus and misinformed consumers crosses party lines at the paranoid juncture of the far left and far right,” reads a recent opinion essay in the Los Angeles Times. “Among influencers in the conservative camp, the medical community’s consensus on the importance of applying sunscreen every day is a liberal conspiracy to deprive people of the sun’s curative powers and men of testosterone.”
Critics warn, as they did with people who decline to get a COVID-19 vaccine, the protection from the potentially deadly virus outweighs the potential side effects.