5 reasons you absolutely should be wearing sunscreen

Pete Evans has come under some serious fire after controversially revealing he wears “generally nothing” while out in the sun, and calling out the “poisonous chemicals” in sunscreen.

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But is he right?

Be spoke to Craig Sinclair, Chair of the Cancer Council Skin Cancer Committee on whether we should be worried about what is in sunscreens.

And the answer was a resounding no. According to the experts, we definitely need to slip, slop, slap – and here’s five reasons why.

Sunscreens aren’t harmful to your skin

“The critical point with sunscreen here in Australia is that they’re governed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration which is a government authority whose job it is to regulate all pharmaceuticals in the country,” says Craig. “We are really fortunate in Australia that we have a highly regulated sunscreen industry.”

“Where this context of poison [and] that it is harmful comes from, I do not know. It’s certainly not in the scientific literature. It’s certainly not something we as consumers need to be concerned about.”

They are proven to reduce the risk of cancer

“A typical SPF 50 sunscreen, when applied properly, will block out 98 percent of the sun’s UV,” says Craig. They are products that have been proven to effective in reducing the risk of melanoma.”

They’re the best wrinkle-buster around

Don’t want to look like the leathery old lady in There’s Something About Mary? Protecting your skin from the sun is the best thing you can do to keep that fresh-faced glow you’ve got going on.

“We have products that have been in the market for decades and they’ve been proven to not only reduce melanoma in particular, but of course skin ageing, because they’re letting a lot less UVA to penetrate,” says Craig.

Tanning is bad. Very bad.

Pete admits to rocking “an all over tan all year” but that’s bad news for your skin, says Craig.

“A tan is a sign of damage to your skin’s DNA. While sunburn is in an indicator you’ve gone too far, a tan is doing the same thing. Just because you don’t burn doesn’t mean you’re not putting yourself at risk of skin cancer.”

That sun, she’s a powerful one.

Fifteen minutes. That’s all it takes in summer to get the first sign of sunburn. For Pete to go surfing for four hours using Surf Mud, a product that hasn’t been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, is “madness”, says Craig.

“It is really important that we take steps to protect ourselves prior to getting sunburnt,” says Craig.

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