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        Sunscreen Ingredient Kills Skin Cells

        New Scientist, October 7, 2000, p. 13, Magazine issue 2259
        Rob Edwards

        There may be a toxic ingredient lurking in ultraviolet filters.

        SUN-LOVERS beware: sunscreens could be toxic. A chemical commonly used in sun lotions to protect against ultraviolet radiation kills animal cells, Norwegian scientists have discovered. And it may become more deadly after a few hours out in the sun.

        The widespread use of sunscreens has been increasingly questioned by experts who say that it may not provide protection against skin cancer because it encourages people to sunbathe for longer. Now there is evidence that a substance called octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC), used as a UVB filter in 90 per cent of sunscreens worldwide, may itself be toxic.

        Terje Christensen, a biophysicist from the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority near Oslo, found that half of the mouse cells in an ethyl alcohol solution died when OMC was added at five parts per million, a much lower concentration than occurs in sunscreens. Over 90 per cent of the cells survived in the solution without ...

        The full article is here.

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