Certain Sunscreens Being Recalled Due To Cancer Risk

We all know how important it is to lather ourselves in sunscreen to protect ourselves from those damaging UV rays, am I right? Well, depending on what kind of sunscreen you use, you might be doing yourself more harm than good.

MassLive is reporting that one of the oldest, and biggest, pharmaceutical companies in the world is recalling five of its aerosol sunscreen products due to the discovery of trace amounts of a carcinogen in some samples.

On Wednesday, Johnson & Johnson made the announcement that they were issuing a recall of five of their spray sunscreens from their Aveeno and Neutrogena lines because the company found low levels of benzene in some samples. Benzene is a carcinogen which means it can cause cancer.

Johnson & Johnson has asked that customers please stop using the products which were distributed throughout stores nationwide. The recall included one Aveeno product, Aveeno Protect + Refresh spray, and four Neutrogena products:

Invisible Daily
Ultra Sheer
Beach Defense, and
Cool Dry Sport

By the way, the recall covers all can sizes and SPF levels for the products listed. Johnson & Johnson said in a media statement on Wednesday:

Out of an abundance of caution, we are recalling all lots of these specific aerosol sunscreen products. While benzene is not an ingredient in any of our sunscreen products, it was detected in some samples of the impacted aerosol sunscreen finished products.

The company is reviewing how the chemical may have gotten into some of its products. According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, benzene is highly flammable and is found in many products including gasoline, detergents, pesticides, and synthetic fibers.

The CDC also says that benzene can cause anemia and long-term exposure to the carcinogen can cause leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and excessive bleeding. Customers looking for a refund should call Johnson & Johnson's Consumer Care Center at 1-800-458-1673.

For more on the story, check out MassLive's website here.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

Gallery Credit: Keri Wiginton