Updated Trends: While many medical practitioners state that sunscreen lotions provide protection from UV rays and skin cancer, researchers have discovered that the product might not be safe. Dr. Yinfa Ma from the University of Missouri suggested that when the skin is exposed to sunlight some of the ingredients like zinc oxide, which is a common ingredient in sunscreens, undergoes a chemical reaction and can release unstable molecules known as the free radicals.
The free radicals bond with the other molecules, but in this process, they tend to damage the cells or even the DNA which contain those cells. This revelation states that sunscreen can increase the chances of skin cancer.
Ma, along with his associates, also found that the longer zinc oxide is exposed to sunlight, the greater damage it causes to the human cells. The researcher said, “Zinc oxide may generate free radicals when exposed to UV (ultraviolet) sunlight, and those free radicals can kill cells.”
The researchers also studied how the human cells which are immersed in zinc oxide solution containing nano particles react when they are exposed to different types of light. It was found that when they are exposed to visible light only the lung cells suspended in zinc oxide deteriorated.
