I have been looking at labels for years, on everything under the sun, including sunscreens. It never made sense to me that you should apply chemicals to your skin and then bake it at high temperatures.
Now, Margaret Schlumpf and her research group at the Department of Pharmacology, University of Zurich, Switzerland, have confirmed my common-sense concerns. They have found that these chemicals have strong estrogenic activity.
Chemical estrogens are “gender benders” and can contribute to these health problems:
In addition to the research at the University of Zurich, research was done at Tulane University in New Orleans. They found that combinations of estrogenic sunscreen chemicals and other environmental chemicals, like PCBs and DDT are more harmful than single chemicals. One mixture of these estrogenic chemicals was 160 to 1600 times more toxic than each chemical in the mixture.
Estrogenic chemicals are harmful to adults, and even more harmful in early fetal development. Male hormones trigger genes that activate male development. If female hormones are present, the fetus has female imprinting, whether their genes are male (XY) or female (XX). If a woman pregnant with a male child is exposed to estrogenic chemicals when genes normally cause masculine patterns (weeks 7 to 14 of pregnancy) there may be mental or physical effects such as sex-role confusion or reduced penis size.
Get organic, chemical-free sunscreens.
My favorites are Desert Essence Organics Age Reversal Mineral Sunscreen, SPF 30; MyChelle Sun Shield, and California Baby SPF 30+ No Fragrance Sunscreen.
Be sure to use these on yourself, especially if you are pregnant, and your children, and have a happy, healthy, sunny summer.
