The web site NaturalNews.com this weekend headlined a Rutgers University study which suggested that ingredients in over-the-counter moisturizers might themselves be increasing users’ risk of contracting skin cancer.

“Researchers had originally been planning to study whether topically applied caffeine could reduce people’s risk of skin cancer,” Natural News reported. According to the web site, “The test was to be carried out on albino mice, which are specially bred to be predisposed to skin cancer. In order to simulate the condition of a person who has only recently become aware of the risks of skin cancer but who got lots of sun exposure previously, the researchers bombarded the albino mice with ultraviolet radiation before the study began.”

The story continued, “The researchers intended to apply the caffeine by dissolving it into a skin cream, but first wanted to make sure that any cream they used was actually neutral for skin cancer risk. So they applied four commercially available creams to the mice, and discovered that all of them increased the mice’s risk of developing skin tumors known as squamous cell carcinoma.”

Researchers do not know the mechanism which would cause this risk increase, but would like to study it further.

“This study is one more example of how complex the mechanism for skin cancer actually is — that it is just an oversimplification to blame UV as the cause when we know that smoking, diet, heredity and other factors are involved,” Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said.

To read the Natural News story click here.