An independent laboratory is calling for batches of sunscreen products to be pulled from shelves after they were found to contain significant amounts of benzene, a known carcinogen.
Benzene has been linked to increased cancer risk since 1977, when a landmark study found workers who were exposed to benzene over nine years had a five times higher than normal risk of leukemia.
"There's no such thing as a safe level of exposure, and that's especially true for children," Philip Landrigan, director of the Global Public Health Program and Global Pollution Observatory at Boston College, told Bloomberg.
Benzene is often used as an industrial solvent, so it's possible the sunscreen makers were unknowingly using contaminated solvents in some of their products.
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