Hold up, THIS was just found in a ton of sunscreens

Hold up, THIS was just found in a ton of sunscreens

I hope everyone had an awesome Memorial Day weekend, and my apologies to my Northeastern friends who didn’t exactly have the best weather. But if you did enjoy some fun in the sun, I hope you slathered yourself with sunscreen from head to toe—but you may want to read this before you do that again this weekend.

Last week, a pharmacy that tests medications for safety (yes, sunscreen is technically a drug—hence that oh-so consistent label on the back of every bottle or box) dropped a bomb: 78 sunscreens and after-sun products they tested were found to contain benzene, a potential carcinogen linked to blood cancers like leukemia.

The company reviewed 294 batches from 69 different companies, and while the FDA limits benzene concentrations to 2 parts per million (PPM), some of those that tested positive contained 3 times that. And just so you know, the offending products include physical- and chemical-based sunscreen lotions and sprays (as well as post-sun soothing gels).

A far-reaching recall of these products has been proposed, but you might just want to check your beach bag, scan this list (just keep scrolling in the name of your health) and toss anything you might have—because there’s no word on when that may actually happen.

I can’t decide if this is the best or most unnecessary cleansing accessory ever

I can’t decide if this is the best or most unnecessary cleansing accessory ever

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Happy Memorial Day weekend!