Some TikTok influencers are maligning sunscreen. Here's what to know about the claims

News@lemmy.world – 80 points – 2 weeks ago

One survey, from the Orlando Health Cancer Institute, found that 1 in 7 American adults under age 35 believe using sunscreen daily is more harmful than direct sun exposure.

Darwin is back in business.

My dad died from melanoma. You don’t want it. Or any other cancer. So don’t be stupid and protect yourself from the sun.

Yesterday it was posted that these same people are drinking raw milk and exposing themselves to bird flu because reasons and now it’s sunscreen. During the pandemic it was no masking and I’m curious what will come next. The mortality rate of this group brings us all down while promoting a possibly better future without them.

At least melanoma isn't contagious.

No, but stupidity is...

Yet.

Right! It just takes one really aggressive melanoma on an otherwise exposed area making contact with exposed areas! And boom! You got contagious tasmanian face cancer!

“There have been several high-profile individuals” – including reality-TV star Kristin Cavallari – who have talked about how they don't wear sunscreen, about how it's not natural to wear sunscreen, about how sunscreen causes cancer. That’s not based in fact and it’s not accurate information,” Rogers says.

Lmao...

My ancestors evolved to live in Britain where if there's a sunny afternoon abover 70 degrees (freedom units, obviously) everyone loses their god damn minds. Then they moved to Appalachian America where they were under trees the majority of their life.

It's not "natural" for my pasty ass to be exposed to the sun.

Sunscreen is the only reason I don't have to schedule my activities like a vampire.

And my back still looks like a connect the dots drawing.

I hate appeals like this. Cholera is natural, so is nightshade. It used to be natural to be eaten alive by saber tooth tigers.

Also clothes, houses, and the internet aren't natural either but it doesn't stop these same people from using them.

Yeah, the horse for transportation market ain’t exactly booming

Also, sunscreen is natural. Elephants and pigs apply mud to keep the sun off their skin: https://www.foundation.sdsu.edu/sunwisestampede/meetanimals.html

And there is a bird, that urinates on its legs to keep them from getting sunburned

Yeah, that would be me.

Pale skin is a specific - and quite recent - adaption to colder climates that enables the body to produce sufficient vitamin D even from limited sunlight. Oh and living "naturally" also means you're very unlikely to live beyond 40, so skin cancer is less of a consideration. But anybody who believes some dumb Tiktoker over scientific fact probably shouldn't reproduce anyway.

To clarify, it wasn't so much that sun was limited, it's that skin was limited.

The further away from the equator, the colder it is, the more skin gets covered by clothes and can't make the D.

So skin got so pale that just exposed areas like face/hands could make enough D

There was some evolutionary changes because there's more variation in length of daylight, but that was really just a more flexible circadian rhythm if I'm remember correctly.

And the lifespan thing is commonly misunderstood.

If someone made it to like 10 years old, they'd probably make it to their 60s. Infant mortality was pretty big for most of human evolution. And the getting past the first couple of years was what really brought down average lifespan.

But anybody who believes some dumb Tiktoker over scientific fact probably shouldn’t reproduce anyway.

This is a lot more grey, because (at least in America) we can't count on the government to prevent toxic shit being in everything.

So it is plausible that some sunscreens are toxic. But even if they are, there needs to be a cost/benefit analysis to see if it's so toxic it's more dangerous than sun cancer.

And expecting your average Americans to do all of that....

Is gonna lead to a lot of skin cancer. Be a use we're lazy and it's easier to just stop using sunscreen

I don’t believe sun screen is concerningly harmful (to humans; coral reefs may disagree), but I find a lightweight UPF rated long sleeve shirt and wide brim hat way more comfortable. And cheaper when you follow dermatologist recommendations for sunscreen application.

There's also coral safe sunscreen, mineral based.

True! Too many nested parenthetical can make the comment hard to read (even though it’s my preference (most of the time)) though 🙃

I keep finding my comments have that deep parenthetical. Asides within asides.

Also much easier to apply.