Does sunscreen give you cancer?

There is nothing like feeling the warmth of summer sun on your skin—and soaking it up safely means applying sunscreen to protect ourselves from skin cancer. But what about concerns that sunscreen itself could lead to other cancers, due to its chemical ingredients? Fortune spoke with experts to understand how to best keep ourselves safe while enjoying sunlight. What is in sunscreen? Depending on the product, you’ll find several active ingredients that provide broad spectrum protection against the sun’s damaging UVA and UVB rays, according to the American Academy of Dermatology .

Basically, there are two varieties of sunscreen: physical and chemical. Physical, also known as mineral-based, contain two main active ingredients, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which act as a physical barrier between your skin and the sun. Sunscreens without these two active ingredients are classified as chemical, and usually contain a mix of other active ingredients.

Should you be concerned about your sunscreen? The answer largely depends on what kind of sunscreen you’re using. Most of the concerns swirling in the sunscreen sphere are about the active ingredients in chemical sunscreens. A 2020 randomized clinical trial of the U.

S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that six active ingredients (avobenzone, oxybenzone, octocrylene, homosalate, octisalate, and octinoxate) in various chemical sunscreens were systemically absorbed into the body. “The concern isn’t about them being che.