Sunscreen should protect against harmful UV radiation and the associated consequences. But sun protection also has a downside: if it contains harmful ingredients such as the UV filter octocrylene, it is dangerous to health and the environment. Here’s how to find octocrylene-free sunscreen.
Protecting the skin from harmful UV rays is important at any time of the year. Anyone who uses sunscreen should not only ensure that the sun protection factor is high enough, but also that the product is free of problematic ingredients. Because the ingredients of the cream get through the pores in the skin into the whole body.
Sunscreen without octocrylene: why?
Again and again in discussion: the light protection filter octocrylene in sunscreen. This substance can cause allergic skin reactions and is classified as a suspected human carcinogen.
If octocrylene decomposes when the sunscreen is stored for a long time, the dangerous substance benzophenone can form. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), animal studies have shown that benzophenone can cause cancer.
What are octocrylenes?
Octocrylene is an EU-approved chemical UV filter that is often used in sunscreens and anti-aging creams. In contrast, there are sunscreens without octocrylene, which use other filters, or mineral sunscreens, which do not require any chemical filters. Zinc oxide or titanium dioxide is usually used here.
How dangerous is octocrylene?
Octocrylene is suspected of having hormone effects. According to the Deutscher Apothekerzeitung, studies indicate that such influences on hormones impair the development of the sex organs – and thus also the ability to reproduce.
Skin irritations such as the so-called Mallorca acne can be partly attributed to the UV filters in sunscreens. In some countries, doctors are increasingly identifying octocrylene as the cause.
Öko-Test has been criticizing the filter for years and regularly devalues it in sun protection products in tests.
Why you shouldn’t use sunscreen for more than one season
This is especially important if you still use sunscreen with octocrylene. Because: When sunscreen has expired, the filter disintegrates, creating benzophenone, which is considered “probably carcinogenic”. The substance is also suspected of promoting thyroid disorders and having a similar effect to a hormone.
- A Sorbonne University study published in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology shows that the concentration of benzophenone in cosmetics containing octocrylene increases rapidly as the product ages.
- In 2021, Öko-Test examined seven sunscreens with the UV filter octocrylene. The result: All seven products contained benzophenone.
How dangerous is benzophenone?
The EU Scientific Advisory Body (SCCS) assessed the benzophenone in products containing octocrylene in 2021 as a “dangerous impurity” that should not go beyond the “trace level”.
The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) assumes that no health impairments are to be expected. But, as the institute told Öko-Test: “Since the BfR has not yet received any representative data for an assessment of the situation in Germany, it is not possible to make a general recommendation.”
From December 2023, benzophenone will be banned in cosmetic products. The BUND explains: “However, a corresponding ban would also be necessary immediately for the substitute octocrylene.”
How can I find sunscreen without octocrylene?
Many manufacturers have recognized the problem and are now increasingly using sunscreens without octocrylene. These can often be recognized by a clearly visible imprint.
- When buying sun cream, sun milk or sun spray, pay attention to the note “without octocrylene”.
- You can also see if octocrylene is included in the list of ingredients.
- Octocrylene can hide under different names. The information sheet of the European Commission mentions the designation octocrilene and the chemical name 2-cyano-3,3-diphenyl acrylic acid 2-ethylhexyl ester. The INCI name is Octocrylene.
Be careful with these sunscreens
The test by Stiftung Warentest (2022) shows: Most of the products in the test do not contain octocrylene. However, the researchers found benzophenone in three products.
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Kaufland Bevola sun milk
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Sun D’or sun spray aerosol spray
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Müller Lavozon sun spray
That’s why Stiftung-Warentest advises: “As a precaution, only use products containing octocrylene – in the current test those from Kaufland, Müller and Sun D’or – until the best-before date printed on them.”
Octocrylene: Also a problem in children’s sunscreen?
Most children’s sun creams do not contain octocrylene. Stiftung Warentest has currently (test 7/2023) tested sunscreens for children. None of the tested products stood out because of critical ingredients. UV filters such as octocrylene and homosalate were not found.
Of a total of 19 tested sunscreens for children, only two products received the grade “very good”: Cien Sun Kids sun cream from Lidl and Sunozon Kids sun spray from Rossmann. At least nine sunscreens were rated “good”.
Octocrylene in sunscreen: Also harmful to the environment
It makes sense not only for your own health, but also for the environment to use sunscreen without octocrylene. Because the UV filter is also problematic for the environment: octocrylene damages corals in bathing areas and may thus reduce the resistance of coral reefs to climate change. Octocrylene in sunscreen products is already banned in some territories such as the US Virgin Islands and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Cosmetic products containing octocrylene have also been banned in the Republic of Palau (Micronesia) since 2020.
Avoid octocrylene – here’s how
- Scientific and medical experts advise using sunscreen without octocrylene as a precaution.
- The German Dermatological Society also recommends no longer using older sunscreens that contain octocrylene.
- If the cream has often been exposed to great heat, for example in the beach bag, you should dispose of it – even if the use-by date has not yet passed, according to the advice of the German Dermatological Society.
Please note: If you buy sunscreen abroad, you will sometimes find products with different recipes and therefore different ingredients. In addition, the recipes can change from season to season. To make sure that the sunscreen does not contain octocrylene, you should always take a look at the list of ingredients.
But: Even if the substances octocrylene and benzophenone are suspected of having harmful side effects: “The risk of skin cancer is much, much greater,” warns dermatologist Christoph Liebich.
The better alternative: natural cosmetics do without chemical UV filters such as octocrylene and instead protect the skin with mineral filters.
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