“Telling people to wear chemical sunscreen on a cloudy day is misbranding a product whose only approved use is to prevent sunburn. Yet the cosmetic dermatology industry — whose advocacy groups accept millions of dollars directly from the manufacturers of chemical sunscreen annually — is willing to tell you to put chemicals on your body 365 days a year.”

— Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy submitted this letter to the student newspaper CMU Life. Levy continued, “Google ‘oxybenzone’ — the main active ingredient in most chemical sunscreens today. Make up your own mind. This chemical should only be put on (and in) your body to prevent sunburn on occasions when sunburn is possible. But telling you to wear it daily increases sales for chemical sunscreen manufacturers and keeps the millions of dollars in endorsement money from SPF companies to dermatology front groups coming. But it’s a toxin that 97 percent of us now have in our urine, according to a Centers for Disease Control study.”

To read the story and Levy’s response — as well as other responses critical of dermatology’s anti-sun advice — click here.