Influencers are saying sunscreen causes cancer. they are wrong.
A woman tilts her face toward the sun and closes her eyes. “Do you wear sunscreen?" reads a caption in the video, which has more than one million views on X. No, the woman responds.
A new caption appears: “There is no PROOF the sun causes cancer." The 15-second video is a glimmer of the anti-sunscreen sentiment emanating from some influencers and celebrities. Their claims, debunked by dermatologists and scientists in other videos, range from misconceptions that sunscreen itself causes cancer to conspiracies that sunscreen is a ploy by pharmaceutical companies to pad profits and sicken people. Recalls of some spray sunscreens after a testing company detected contamination of benzene, a chemical that can cause cancer, have also fueled skepticism.
“We are literally rubbing cancer into our skins," one TikTok user said in a viral video last year. Some wellness influencers tout the sun’s natural healing powers. Others tell their followers to make homemade sunscreen or that sun protection prevents people from producing the vitamin D that they need.
Consuming seed oils is what really causes sunburns, some say. In fact, sunburn is caused by the sun, dermatologists confirmed. Sensibly using sunscreen is far safer than excessive sun exposure, they said.
Broad-spectrum sunscreen protects skin from ultraviolet radiation that can cause sunburn, skin cancer and signs of aging. Health agencies in the U.S. and elsewhere list sunscreen as crucial in preventing skin cancer.
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