Sunscreen

[Mithgard]

I've gotten into quite a heated discussion whether or not sunscreen may actually do more harm than good if applied. I'm of S. american background, with noone in my family having ever shown any signs of skin cancer. We have (for the most part) never used sunscreen when outside during the hot/sunny summer days. Only in extreme conditions such as trips to the Caribbean do may we occasionally apply sunscreen.

So to make a long question short, is it possible that actually applying the sunscreen may run the risk of resulting in other problms because of all the different chemicals that are in sunscreen and their interaction with the sun/sweat/other factors??

[Mithgard]

P.S.-- I apologize for the sloppy grammar and spelling...its late and im quite tired

-Mith

[wevets]

Here's a thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=284919) about the dangers of sunscreen (or lack of dangers as the case may be ;) ) from not too long ago.

The consensus seemed to be that there weren't really dangerous chemicals in most sunscreens.

[Excalibre]

It's possible that you could be in a car accident, and be trapped by your seatbelt, and die because you were unable to escape. It happens. But seatbelts save fifty lives for every death they cause.

It's a matter of weighing risks. The fact that no one in your immediate family has ever had skin cancer doesn't mean you won't. It helps, no doubt, but it by no means suggests that you have zero risk, or even a negligibly small risk, of skin cancer. You have to compare and realistically weigh the risk of skin cancer versus the risk created by wearing sunscreen.

It's definitely safer to apply sunscreen religiously.