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TheBrief Health

Is your
sunscreen

safe?

Researchers at the Food
and Drug Administration
recently found that four of
the most common active
ingredients in sunscreens
can be absorbed through
the skin and appear in
the blood. The health
impacts are unclear, but it’s
concerning enough that the
agency has requested more
research on the effects of
sunscreen ingredients.
The FDA is finalizing new
regulations for evaluating
the safety of sunscreens,
and it found that only two
ingredients, zinc oxide
and titanium dioxide,
A gender gap no has lessened considerably, Ruch says. In 1975, are generally safe and
effective. Two others, PABA
one wants to close boys 10 to 14 died by suicide 314% more and trolamine salicylate,
often than girls in that age range. By 2016, have been linked to adverse
By Jamie Ducharme that number fell to 180%. For the 15-to-19 age health effects and are

group, the gap between boys and girls nar- unsafe, while 12 have not
For decades, suicide-prevention rowed from 415% to 331%. been studied enough for
experts have been stumped by a phenom- The data alone don’t explain why suicide the agency to say anything
enon known as the gender paradox. Though rates are rising more swiftly for girls than about their safety.
girls report contemplating suicide more often for boys, though the analysis does offer The FDA is expected
than boys, and make more attempts, boys die some hints. Historically, girls have been to request more studies
SUICIDE: ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE XU FOR TIME; SUNSCREEN: ILLUSTRATION BY MARTIN GEE FOR TIME
by suicide far more regularly. But new data, more likely to attempt suicide by less deadly on these 12 ingredients,
drawn from four decades of public records methods, like poisoning, while boys have but until its final report
and published in JAMA Network Open, sug- more often used lethal means like firearms. is submitted later this
gest this gender gap is closing. Those tendencies help explain why girls year, the Environmental
It’s “alarming,” says study co-author outpace boys in suicide attempts while the Working Group’s annual
Donna Ruch, a researcher at Nationwide reverse is true for deaths. But the recent list of “best” sunscreens
Children’s Hospital in analysis of Centers for Disease Control and can be useful in sunscreen
shopping; it relies on
Ohio. “On top of the fact Prevention records shows that young girls similar criteria as the FDA.
that females are thinking are increasingly using more lethal means of —Alice Park
about suicide more and 13% suicide, such as hanging and suffocation.
attempting suicide more, Adults can help kids of any gender by talk-
now they’re actually com- Annual increase ing to them about suicide and mental health.
pleting suicide.” in suicide rate But Ruch says we need better gender- specific
Starting in 2007, sui- among girls ages suicide- prevention strategies. For example,
cide rates for girls ages 10 to 14 girls and young women are more likely to be
10 to 14 began increas- diagnosed with depression and anxiety, while
ing by 13% annually, compared with 7% for boys are more likely to display conduct or
boys, according to the new study. For teens aggressive- behavior disorders. Approaches
15 to 19, the average annual increases were that home in on these risk factors, Ruch says,
8% for girls and 3.5% for boys. As a result, the could help stymie the suicide trend across all
gap between male and female suicide rates demographics. •

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