Why sunscreens are in the nanotechnology safety spotlight
With the inevitable march of technology, and recent forays into the field of nanotechnology, is all sunscreen safe?
The Guardian: 12 December 2011
TechNyou
The Friends of the Earth have released their 2011-12 Sunscreen guide this week. TechNyou has commented previously on some of the media and research related to nano sunscreens and the Education Unions decision to recommend that school not use sunscreens with nanoparticles. I will be posting some more details this week about what the latest research findings are on this topic, though I have just come from a seminar outlining some of this research and in a nutshell there is no evidence that the nanoparticles in sunscreen penetrate below the skin layer to be in contact with living cells. THe small amounts that do (at least for the research done with Zinc Oxide) are in quantities about 1000 less than what is naturally found in the body. The caveat here is that it applies to healthy and intact skin. More on this later
Previous commentary
Laser imaging assesses nanoparticles in sunscreen
Education Union and sunscreens
Jason, TechNyou