Beware of this ingredient present in sun creams. Over time it transforms and can become dangerous

    Octocrylene, present in sun creams, over time transforms into benzophenone, a suspected human carcinogen

    Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerous

    A new study has found that an ingredient often present in the composition of sunscreens, octocrylene, over time transforms into another substance with mutagenic, carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting properties: benzophenone.





    In the compositions of sun and anti-aging creams it is easy to find octocrylene, a UV filter. However, according to a new study, conducted by a team of French-American researchers and published in Chemical Research in Toxicology, this ingredient tends to break down over time, turning into a dangerous substance.

    We are talking about benzophenone which is a mutagen and endocrine disruptor. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) then also classified it as a suspected human carcinogen by placing it in Group 2B.

    Its presence in food products or food packaging is prohibited in the United States but, as stated in the study, under California's Proposition 65 (law that regulates the presence of chemicals in products marketed in this state of the USA ), there is no product in which the presence of benzophenone is safe, not even sunscreens, anti-aging or moisturizers.

    The study then set out to find out whether or not benzophenone was present in a wide variety of commercial sunscreens and if its concentration increased over time, due to the degradation of octocrylene.

    The concentration of benzophenone was analyzed in nine sunscreen products commonly used in France and eight in the United States. Among the creams analyzed by the researchers we find brands such as Garnier, Uriage, Bioderma, Roche Posay and L'Oréal.

    All the samples were subjected to the accelerated stability test validated by the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), a test that allows to evaluate the stability of the chemical-physical, organoleptic and microbiological characteristics of a cosmetic product, subjecting it to conditions of accelerated aging in vitro that simulate natural ones.

    Thus, 16 octocrylene-containing products were found to have an average benzophenone concentration of 75 mg / kg, which ranged from 9,8 mg / kg to 435 mg / kg. Benzophenone was not detectable exclusively in the product that did not contain octocrylene (therefore 1 sample out of 17).



    Beware of this ingredient present in sun creams. Over time it transforms and can become dangerous

    @Chemical Research in Toxicology

    The concentration of this substance detected after the accelerated aging process (which corresponded to about one year after purchase keeping the product at room temperature) was much higher.

    “Initially, there is very little benzophenone in the products. But gradually as the product ages, there is more and more benzophenone. Increases in benzophenone were thus observed in excess of 100% and even 200% ”said Philippe Lebaron, professor of microbiology and researcher at the Sorbonne University, co-author of the study.

    This is the first time that research demonstrates the degradation of octocrylene to benzophenone and Professor Lebaron concluded that:

    "Products containing benzophenone and octocrylene should be banned" 

    The study confirms that it is good to use our cosmetics as soon as possible, avoiding storing them for too long precisely to avoid, among other things, the degradation of some ingredients and any dangerous transformations, as seems to happen in the case of octocrylene.

    In itself, octocrylene is not harmless either for health or for the environment. This sunscreen was already known to be particularly dangerous for corals and a 2019 research found that this, along with 3 other active ingredients commonly found in sunscreens, are easily absorbed by the skin and can remain in the blood as well. for 24 hours.

    Read also: Sun creams: these dangerous chemicals can stay in the blood for up to 24 hours (LIST)

    Fonte: Chemical Research in Toxicology / France Info

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