Can Sunscreen Really Cause Cancer?

Although there are rumors that wearing sunscreen can cause cancer, The Center for Disease Control reported that adults who were exposed to at least one sunburn as a child are two times more likely to develop the skin cancer melanoma, and the rumor of sunscreen causing melanoma is untrue, though there is a valid reason people think that, according to Knoe 8 News.

Although many parents may think it inconvenient to put sunscreen on their babies and kids, experts say that it is urgent they do so in order to dramatically lower the odds of their kids (and themselves) developing skin cancer.

Dr. Warwick Morison and Dr. Steve Wang, dermatologists and members of The Skin Cancer Foundation's Photobiology Committee, spoke to Knoe 8 News and pointed to a large study of Australians that found regular sunscreen use reduced the risk of developing melanoma - the most dangerous type of skin cancer - by 50 to 73 percent.

As for the idea that sunscreen causes cancer, Morison and Wang also completed a comprehensive review of all sunscreen studies from 1966 to 2003, and "found not evidence that sunscreen increases melanoma risk." 

Regular users of sunscreen may develop melanoma simply because they are likely to spend more time basking in the sun, feeling that sunscreen is protecting them from developing cancer at all. However, sunscreen must be reapplied every two hours and after every dip in the water to be effective, and even the most effective sunscreens do not offer 100 percent protection from the sun.

Experts recommend that in addition to making sure our skin is protected with sunscreen from the sun's harsh UV lights, we minimize the time we spend outside, wear protective clothing and hats, and stay in the shade as much as possible.  

Morison and Wang also noted in their review that the "health risks of UV exposure - including skin cancer and premature skin aging - are great, and except for bone loss, far better proven than the suggested dangers of vitamin D insufficiency." Therefore, sunscreen does not cause a vitamin D deficiency, and the The Skin Cancer Foundation agrees, believing this claim is unproven nor supported by evidence.

A review of over 1,000 studies by the Institute of Medicine found that "most Americans not only ingest or absorb enough vitamin D, but there's no strong link between vitamin D deficiency and diseases like cancer." According to the CDC, adults need 600 to 800 IUs of Vitamin D a day, and Hispanic Americans are most likely to have a deficiency at 31 percent, as compared to 12 percent of Mexican Americans and 3.2 percent of white Americans.