Body and hand lotions are some of the most used skin products on earth. Many people keep lotions at their work desk, beside their beds or in their bathrooms. The marketing pitches by these creams contend that use of the products can cause anti-aging effects as well as soften skin. But the fact is, these type of lotions really are just chemicals. Have you ever read the ingredients on a bottle? There are lots of natural solutions available in place of these.
A study has shown that Dermabase, Dermovan, Eucerin Original Moisturizing Cream, or Vanicream may cause skin cancer. This also means tanning oils and lotions parents may apply to their babies. Sunlight-induced nonmelanoma skin cancer is diagnosed in over 1 million people per year. Each year, the rate of diagnosis in people increases, which science has justified with an increasingly aging population. Many people do survive, but squamous cell carcinomas are killers.
The sun gets blamed as the cause. But the fact is, these studies haven’t been incredibly extensive. Meaning, there are a whole lot of variables that are ignored by merely saying “the sun causes skin cancer.” One of those variables is the application of topical skin creams, an undefined risk. One study took a closer look at this, the results, well, weren’t surprising.
During studies to determine the safety of four commercially available and widely used moisturizing creams as possible vehicles for topical chemoprevention studies, we found that they all had tumorigenic activity when applied topically to UVB-pretreated high-risk mice.
Of course, the study only used mice, but mice are used in many studies to make a point. The study was not funded by any of the large corporate producers of topical lotion, so it was unbiased. More importantly, the study points out a greater need for more research and highlights that routine, commercially available and widely used topical creams are never tested for carcinogenic activity.
In other words, “safety tests” do not apply to skin cancer issues. This is hugely important to anyone considering using chemical-laden products.
That’s why we are big advocates for Neal’s Yard Remedies, or NYR for short. NYR uses organic ingredients grown under tight restrictions without the use of artificial chemicals and pesticides. This company is huge in the UK, but it is a fast-growing market in the U.S. We believe most people will want to use organic products so they don’t put synthetic chemicals in or on their bodies.
What it all means
At Wellness Soldier, health is important to us. When formulating and making our products, we follow the precautionary principle – which means not sharing anything we believe could cause harm to you or the planet.
For more information go here.