The carcinogen has been found in sunscreen, deodorants, acne creams and other personal care products. Here’s what to know.
Benzene seems to have cropped up everywhere in recent years. First, it was hand sanitizers with “unacceptable levels” of the carcinogen. Then there were recalls of antifungal foot sprays and alarming reports of tainted deodorants, dry shampoos and sunscreens.
Some of these findings have driven panicked news headlines and social media posts. On TikTok, wellness influencers have warned people to stop wearing sunscreen; one doctor on the platform even compared using dry shampoo with benzene to smoking cigarettes. Several class-action lawsuits have also been filed over the findings.
Benzene, which is found naturally in crude oil, isn’t intentionally added to these products. Rather, it’s used to manufacture chemicals such as dyes, detergents, paints and plastics. It can end up in personal care products when the chemicals in them aren’t purified enough, or when certain active ingredients in products react with each other or break down.
There isn’t data yet to suggest that low levels of exposure to benzene from personal care products carries significant health risks. And some experts have cautioned that many of the most alarming findings about benzene have come from a single testing lab that has been criticized for straying from standard testing methods.
Still, given that high levels of benzene exposure have been linked to cancer, experts say it’s worth taking a closer look at dry shampoos, sunscreen and more.
What does the research show about benzene?
Much of the research so far on benzene looks specifically at regular exposure to high levels of the chemical in occupational settings.