We have been told many times over that exposing your skin to the sun is a big no-no, and sunscreens are required to protect yourself. But in reality, there are tons of sunscreen dangers that we may be ignoring, slowly and painfully killing our bodies – and the entire environment. Samantha Gilbert talks with Dr. Elizabeth Plourde to discuss the life-threatening effects of sunscreen chemicals. She dives deep into its devastating impact on marine life, its contribution to the upwards trend of melanoma cases, and how it causes hormonal imbalances that dysregulate children’s sexual maturation. Elizabeth also explains why every single person must become an active and knowledgeable health advocate, especially when sunscreen manufacturers try to pass off their products as completely safe.

Learn more about Dr. Elizabeth Plourde, C.L.S., NCMP, Ph.D.

Website: Best EMF Products  

Elizabeth’s Sunscreen Books 

Sunscreen Research

Elizabeth’s Books:

• EMF Freedom: Solutions for the 21st Century Pollution – 3rd Edition 2018
• Sunscreens – Biohazard 2: Proof of Toxicity Keeps Piling Up 2018
• Sunscreens – Biohazard: Treat As Hazardous Waste 2012
• Hysterectomy: The Best or Worst Thing that Ever Happened to Me? 2003
• Your Guide to Hysterectomy, Ovary Removal & Hormone Replacement 2002

Listen to the podcast here:

Within the below transcript, the bolded text is Samantha Gilbert and the regular text is Dr. Elizabeth Plourde.

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The Harmful Effects of Sunscreen with Dr. Elizabeth Plourde

As a teenager, I had a terrible reaction to sunscreen and have questioned all the claims attached to it ever since. How is it possible that something so good for me could cause head-to-toe hives? We were then told that zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are safe alternatives. Thanks to our guest, we know this is another consumer marketing angle. Perhaps I’m just hyper-aware, but even these don’t feel good on my skin.

Though touted as safe, in December of 2021, a week before Johnson & Johnson recalled its Neutrogena and Aveeno aerosol sunscreens, consumer reports obtained an internal FDA health hazard evaluation that reached a different conclusion. The report stated, “Life-threatening, health hazards,” and “Permanent impairment of a body function could be caused by use of these sunscreens.” It’s clear why the FDA didn’t release this study to the public.

If these sunscreens are life-threatening to us, how are they impacting our beautiful corals, fish, and other sea creatures? What is the damage to our oceans and environment? What is the truth behind the meaning of SPF and its impact on melanin and vitamin D production? We are constantly told that melanoma incidences continue to increase worldwide. Yet, they only increased with the arrival of sunscreens and a vast medical complex that tells us we must use them or be at serious risk.

I’m exploring all of these important questions with my guest, Dr. Elizabeth Plourde, who is a clinical laboratory scientist and a certified menopause practitioner through the North American Menopause Society. Her education is augmented by invaluable experience gained while working with cutting-edge DNA and cancer medical research laboratories.

Her research revealed that sunscreens promote melanoma and harm all life in the oceans, as well as human life. She has been writing books and articles and speaking to warn the world that sunscreens are toxic hazards. When kid-safe sunscreens were marketed, Dr. Plourde redoubled her efforts to dispel the myth that zinc and titanium oxides are kid-safe. Not only are they not kid-safe but they are also not ocean-life-safe as they kill the phytoplankton or the bottom of the food chain in the oceans.

Her documentation clearly shows how a high antioxidant diet protects the skin from solar radiation. It also helps protect us from oxidations created by the massive amount of electromagnetic radiation we are exposed to. To bring awareness to these pressing dangers to our society, she has devoted her life to presenting her groundbreaking research behind this environmental damage at mental health conferences and consumer groups across the country. Her 25 years of research and expertise in the field of health have resulted in her appearances on ABC’s 2020, Berman & Berman: For Women Only, Good Morning America, The Gary Null Show, numerous network news programs, and radio shows internationally.

Thanks for being with us. Here’s my conversation with Elizabeth.

Welcome to the show, Elizabeth. I am so excited about this important conversation.

Thank you so much for having me. I am excited about being here and sharing the research that everybody in the world needs to know.

Before we dive in, I have to say, I appreciate how you’ve devoted your life and work to bringing awareness to topics that go against the grain of industry and societal norms. I realize this is a controversial topic and we are probably going to ruffle some feathers, but the issue of sunscreens is too important not to address.

You’ve written two books on sunscreens, both extremely well-researched. The first is about all the hormonally active sunscreen chemicals that harm us, including reproduction, as well as animal and fish reproduction. The industry then changed to zinc oxide and titanium dioxide or so-called safe alternatives, but in your research, you found that’s not exactly true. I would love it if you would share with us what your second book is about, and why these new sunscreens give us a false sense of security.

I was appalled. I had not thought that I would uncover how damaging these new kid-safe sunscreens are that they came away from the hormonally active ones. When I first started writing a book on sunscreens, (I’m a menopause practitioner), my husband said, “You are a hormone specialist. Why in the world are you writing a book about sunscreens?” I didn’t realize I had to be a hormone specialist in order to write about what these totally active potent hormones are in the sunscreen chemicals.

Sunscreen In Our Water and Food

They are atrocious. One of them is now in 95% of the American’s blood supply because it’s in our water and food. It’s in our fish. We are eating and drinking it. It’s in 95% of us, even those who say they have never used sunscreen. When fish are exposed to just that one chemical, they become intersex. They have testicle and ovary materials. They call them intersex. They even quit breeding because they don’t know whether they are male or female.

This is what’s happening to our younger generations. They don’t know. They not only have this anti-testosterone but they also have all the estrogenic plastics from all the plastic bottles they drink out of from the time they are born. We are creating a hormone mess up. That’s how I think of it. Our young people don’t know if they are boys or girls. It’s a very real phenomenon.

When they took my ovaries when I was 43, I couldn’t find any hormones that I could absorb so I was without hormones completely. I did feel totally asexual. I didn’t feel female. I didn’t feel male. I felt neutered. I know how strong this hormone reaction is. These young people feel that they are not the right sex. It’s totally a very genuine feeling simply because there’s such a hormone mess up in their bodies.

I’m so glad you shared that with us. I appreciate your story because I also have a story of my past struggles with biochemical imbalances that led to a lot of depression, anxiety, and OCD. I was very suicidal throughout my life from the time I was a small child. I love the fact that you have a story where you know what it’s like to have hormonal dysregulation and to struggle with what that feels like with all the chemicals that we are exposed to, and how that impacts us epigenetically as we go down through the generations, and how our children are be being impacted on a significant level. I appreciate you sharing that.

One thing that’s also amazing to me, especially with your second book, is how many holistic skincare lines contain zinc oxide and titanium dioxide because they think that they are safe. I never really liked sunscreen. It always felt so heavy and uncomfortable. Now I know why I always felt that way. It just didn’t feel quite right. Even the Environmental Working Group lists zinc oxide as safe. People use that website as a bible of sorts. It’s amazing to me how the research is out there. You’ve done the research and we are going to get into the environmental impacts as well. What you said about the fish being intersex is important, and what these things have done over the years to our children is powerful.

I wasn’t going to write a second book. I had no plans for it until I started researching the correct research, which was several years ago. I was in shock at what I was reading about what zinc and titanium do, and here they are, selling it as kid-safe and reef-safe. None of that is true. This is what’s frightening, how we are continuing to damage the planet. In reality, we don’t even need sunscreen because if we eat the right diet and are high in oxidants, we don’t need them at all.

I love that aspect of it too, how diet is such a huge factor here. I would like to drill down a little bit more Elizabeth into zinc oxide specifically. There’s some questioning, especially in the holistic community, about titanium dioxide, but I have not seen one negative thing about zinc oxide. It’s listed as very safe and kid-friendly as you mentioned. Doesn’t it kill the phytoplankton in the ocean?

Yes, it does. The small zinc and titanium kill the phytoplankton. We might be saving the reefs from the hormonal damage, but to kill the bottom of the food chain, we are killing the ocean literally. There’s no recognition of this at all. The little phytoplankton explodes when they are exposed to zinc or titanium oxide.

Would you consider zinc oxide to be carcinogenic? How would you classify zinc oxide specifically?

It’s a mineral. The problem is that they bring it down to the smallest particle, which is creating a large part of the problem. Even the white paste of zinc oxide that lifeguards used to put on their noses when I was younger tears down the cell wall. The cell wall starts getting holes in them from that. They made it so small to trick the eye so it doesn’t look like a white paste.

They bring it down to 1/5,000th the diameters of human hair. We are talking extremely small. It’s the difference between micro and nano. All these products are saying, “We are safe because we’re non-nano.” Less than 100 nanometers is nano, and a little bit over 100 nanometers is micro. When it’s down to 1/5,000th the diameter of a human hair, it’s absolutely meaningless. They cause the same damage. They both do, and yet they are saying that this is safe because we are non-nano.

Sunscreen Dangers We’re Putting On Our Skin

I’m glad that you explained the difference between micro and nano because people are so confused about what these terms mean, and how they impact us. Our skin absorbs so much if we are putting that on our skin every day. Especially for women and the anti-aging movement, we are told to fear the sun. We are told that we are going to get skin cancer and we are going to damage our skin. We are going to age our skin if we are in the sun. That’s pretty heavy-duty fear. I appreciate you breaking that down.

Despite industry trickery in their marketing, how are chemicals such as benzene, the newer BP-3, and cinnamate harmful? We know that they are endocrine disruptors. You talked a little bit about that, but would you mind going into each chemical and sharing with us what they are for and how they hurt us?

Supposedly they are all for the sunscreens. Benzene is used in the processing, which is why they did that big recall of all the sunscreens that had benzene contamination in there. These are petroleum products and we know that they are not good for our bodies. They are trying to get rid of gas cars because petroleum products are going into us. The electrical is just as bad. People are dying from those too. We are electrical beings and we weren’t meant to be exposed to man-made electricity. To say that we can’t have gasoline and then to keep putting these petroleum products into all of these cosmetics and skin preparations makes no sense because they are toxic to the body.

It makes no sense to avoid using gasoline while we keep on putting petroleum products into cosmetics that are applied to our bodies. Click To Tweet

Even if it’s not sunscreen, the skin foundations that women use to even out their skin tone, almost all of those have zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide in them. Even the so-called high-end, more couture brands that are very expensive are using avobenzone. Isn’t that one of the original chemical sunscreens?

They added it because it screens for the UVA. They have added it because the original sunscreens only blocked UVB, and then they realized melanoma was going up and they are looking at, “How did this happen?” “We only blocked UVB. We didn’t block UVA.” They write out all these chemicals that block UVA and avobenzone is one of them. Avobenzone breaks down in the sun. This is what gets me about this whole industry. When you read the research, they mix all these chemicals together because they want to do the whole photo spectrum. When they mix them together, they are not photostable and they are less effective. They are not near the SPF that they rate on the bottle when they test them.

I did not know that. That is fascinating. Do you have an idea how truthful that is?

It’s not photostable. There’s plenty of research that shows that.

If something says that it’s SPF 50, we think of it as having very high sun protection. I guess there’s no way to know, but if it’s not stable, would that be 20?

I don’t know. That’s hard to say. Every combination is different. This is part of the problem. When you add the zinc oxide, it changes it again. When they add zinc oxide to the chemicals, it’s a whole different mixture. Part of the research was done one chemical at a time. In 2021 and 2022, they are only now putting out studies where they are looking at them together and realizing that it doesn’t work that well.

How Sunscreen Affects Our Children

That reminds me of the inoculation schedule that we have for children, which is high at the moment and it keeps creeping up. They started to add and combine them together over the decades, and we started to see more reactivity in children. I work a lot with the autism spectrum. We see a direct correlation in regressive autism, even though they don’t want to admit it.

It’s fascinating to me how a lot of the great research that has been done and that has been suppressed, we are seeing some things like MMR when it’s a combination. We see more reactivity and more challenges in children. It would make sense to me what you are sharing that when you add chemical after chemical and you mix them together as you said, it’s not photostable. It’s put into these plastic containers. We are slathering this all over our skin and our baby skin. We have no way of knowing how that’s going to harm us in the long term, especially if we’re using it every single day. I find this BP-3 interesting because going back to the UVA and UVB, correct me if I’m wrong, is BP-3 just to block UVB, or is that for UVA as well?

It’s for UVB because they had to add UVA blockers to the combination.

Going back to the recall in December 2021 that was a Johnson & Johnson recall, spray-on sunscreens are especially bad. They tend to be more problematic. Why is that?

They are aerosolized and so you breathe them in. The people next to you on the beach are breathing them in because it’s in the air and the wind. The small alveoli in the lungs are very susceptible to damage as well as to transfer that chemical from the lungs up to the brain. Breathing this in is absolutely atrocious. I can’t believe how the industry keeps going from bad to worse constantly. In reality, they don’t need it at all. It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry worldwide, and we have destroyed the waters throughout the whole world with this.

Sunscreens keep going from bad to worse. This multi-million-dollar industry has destroyed waters throughout the world. Click To Tweet

It is heartbreaking. A side note for our readers, the FDA withheld a hazard evaluation from the public about the dangers of certain spray-on sunscreens before the Johnson & Johnson recall. I find that interesting because I read the report, you probably did too, Elizabeth. It’s stated as life-threatening health hazards. It also stated permanent impairment of body function. That’s significant and serious. We need to pay attention to those things, but the public is not made aware, unfortunately. Going back to the sun. The sun itself is this amazing superfood and we need it for good health, yet we are constantly told the sun is bad for us and causes cancer. What’s the truth here and what really causes skin cancer?

A poor diet and not eating right can do it. The sun is not the one causing cancer. It’s very clear. I got a graph in my book that shows the incidence of melanoma from the time sunscreens were introduced. It was very low in the late-1970s when they were introduced and it steadily climbed. The FDA has said, “It climbed after we did UVB blocking. Maybe we need to do the UVA blocking.” They do that, and then it has been steadily climbing. It does not prevent melanoma. That’s the problem.

Correct me if I’m wrong here. Didn’t you also mention that sailors that were out on deck working in the sun had lower incidents of skin cancers than those that were inside under deck? Is that accurate?

Lower incidence of melanoma.

That’s significant because you would expect it to be the opposite with all of the fear-based marketing that is thrown at us and we constantly have to slather our skin with this every single day. That’s enlightening.

I recall pictures of the people coming over in the covered wagons in America. The women were in long skirts, long sleeves, and hoods, and the hat came out on both sides so it shielded the face. This generation decided we can go out in a bikini and expose our skin as we have, but they knew not to expose their skin to the sun like that. We have gone fully against that and putting chemicals on us, poisoning our bodies and poisoning the world. It makes no sense.

Sunscreen and Climate Change

You are right. It doesn’t make any sense. That’s why I’m so glad that we are having this important conversation. Another area that is highly politicized right now is climate change. Unfortunately, it’s leading to some terrible things such as the forced culling of livestock and the promotion of cell-cultured meat and milk, as well as bugs for protein.

If you haven’t seen what’s going on in the Netherlands right now, I encourage you to look into it. Let’s talk about how sunscreens harm fish, turtles, and our beautiful corals. By the way, for our readers, corals are animals. What does the actual research show there? Aren’t corals turning white from all the damage from these sunscreens?

The microscopic algae that are inside the little polyps create the color of the coral. When they die due to exposure to sunscreen chemicals, then it bleaches out. That’s why they turn white. I got to see the gorgeous coral all over the world because I learned to scuba dive 50 years ago. The corals were pristine and they were mouth-dropping gorgeous. I had to remember to keep my mouth shut so I keep the regulator in my mouth because I was so in awe of the gorgeousness down there. I have watched them die horribly. That’s what made me write the first sunscreen book.

I’m in the Hawaiian water. I’ve been swimming there for decades. I am so cold. I got goosebumps all over my body but I’m determined I’m going to swim because I’m going to be leaving the next day. I was shivering. I come out of the water and the newspaper headline says that our corals are dying due to global warming. My brain immediately said, “This water is colder than I ever felt it. It’s not global warming. That’s not what’s killing the coral.”

I started my research and quickly found that the sunscreen chemicals kill the coral. They kill a coral in 96 hours of exposure. It’s so little that if you put sunscreen on and took a shower, and then it got in the ocean, in 96 hours, the coral will be dead. That’s how little it takes. That’s why I started that sunscreen book because I wanted it to preserve the coral.

What’s interesting as far as global warming, in 1999, we did have warmer than normal ocean temperatures because of solar flares, not from anything we have done humanly. Wherever the tourists were with heavy sunscreen and the warmer water, that’s where the coral all died. In places where there wasn’t a heavy tourist population, the water was warmer but the coral didn’t die.

We talked about the fish earlier. What about turtles? Don’t they start to develop tumors and so forth?

It’s sickening. I hate to go snorkeling in Hawaiian waters anymore because it’s so awful to see. The turtles have huge tumors on their backs and the water is all cloudy because of the sunscreen. You can see it in the water because it comes off of people. During COVID, the major coral beach in Oahu in Hawaii lost a lot of the coral. When they kept the people out because of COVID, it started to recover a little bit.

Sunscreen’s Chemical Reaction in the Water

Speaking of water, the chlorine interaction in swimming pools with sunscreens, what’s the concern there about that type of chemical reaction?

This is another atrocity. I moved to where I’m living now several years ago because they had 22 swimming pools that were open all year round, 24 hours a day, and I wanted to swim every day. I used to swim every day, but I cannot swim in our pools anymore because of the sunscreen in them. I get a horrible headache that lasts for hours. I finally realized it was not worth it. The chlorine interacts with these chemicals and it converts into a poison. It’s a poison that can cause cancer. We have got our kids swimming in this chemical. It’s sad.

Several months ago, I looked at a new place to work out, and they have this huge pool. It’s a very popular place to bring your family because of this pool. When I walked in there and they were giving me a tour of this facility, I could barely breathe. The chlorine was so strong. At the time, there were people in the pool with masks on. I thought, “This is strange.” You are in a swimming pool with chlorine that kills things. We know the damage alone that chlorine can cause, but then when you add sunscreen on top of that, there’s a chemical reaction.

It seemed odd to me that people would be in the pool on their own. Most people, if they were there by themselves, they were 6 feet away from others, but they still were wearing these masks. It’s very interesting to observe. I’m glad that you are able to share that information about that specific chemical reaction. In your second book, you talk a lot about melanin, our body’s protective mechanism. How does it protect us and what about those of us with fair skin?

When you look at the statistics of melanoma, the white-skinned people are the ones that have had this increase in melanoma since sunscreens were introduced, but for the blacks, there has been no increase. There has been this steady and very little incidence of melanoma. The melanin that creates the blackness or the brownness is very sun protective. It’s the best sun protection there is. That’s why white skins were so well-made. White skin automatically starts producing melanin in order to protect the skin itself. A tan is very beneficial. Yet we are being told to stay out of the sun and don’t get a tan and all that.

Whenever I’m preparing for a new show, I always go online and look at keywords and what pops up. I’m always curious about what’s going to pop up on Google. What is the almighty Google going to tell me about this particular topic? Everything that I read was so negative toward the sun. It’s very fear-based, “Slather your skin. It doesn’t matter if you already have a darker skin tone, you still need to wear sunscreen.” Every single article that I read said that.

How Sunscreen Affects the Body’s Production of Melanin

I thought that’s interesting because I always understood as you explained so well that melanin is protective. People that have more melanin have more protection, why do they need to also slather themselves in these toxic sunscreens? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Out of curiosity, would you mind sharing with us how the body makes melanin? Are there other ways other than the interaction with the sun? Diet is one piece and antioxidants. Are there other mechanisms of action there?

It’s the exposure to the sun. I happen to tan and put out a lot of melanin within five minutes of exposure to the sun. I have always been glad for that and never felt I needed to use sunscreen. Back in the 1970s when they came out with sunscreen, when I first started, I got sick from all of them. I got rashes. I didn’t feel good. I decided to never use it. I’m very glad that I never did. I have never needed it. I have been in the sun a lot. We were a boating family. We’ve been out on boats all over. It’s important that we do that and do develop that tan.

Gradually, you can get more sun so that you could get more vitamin D. It’s getting vitamin D from the sun, which is the best form of vitamin D that your body needs. We have been so well-made so our body is designed to give us sun protection, as well as give us vitamin D. The other thing about black skin is that they don’t make vitamin D because the melanin in their skin is blocking the UVB rays, and it’s the UVB rays that make the vitamin D.

I have noticed within my own clinical practice that most of the people I work with have a hard time getting their vitamin D levels up. I always have to supplement. What I’m finding goes back to, “Are you getting safe sun exposure? Are you getting enough good sun exposure? What is your diet like?” In my opinion, we have to supplement with vitamin D now because people are wearing so much sunscreen and the diet is not optimal, and then our soil quality isn’t optimal. There’s a lot that goes into that. I’m glad that you mentioned that it’s the UVB rays that help with the production of vitamin D because we are told we need to block UVB.

That’s what causes sunburn. It’s all upside down. The problem is that it’s such a lucrative multi-million-dollar area that the manufacturers, the pharmaceuticals, and the cosmetic people that make it are not going to give that up easily because they are making so much money off of it.

Cosmetic manufacturers will not give up their products easily because they make so much money off these dangerous materials. Click To Tweet

Getting Rid of Sunscreen: Safe Sun Exposure and Antioxidants

We know big pharma puts profits over people, unfortunately. That’s why this show is so important to me and having people like you on it. I would love to transition into safe sun exposure and how a nutrient-dense whole foods diet high in antioxidants can protect us. Can you share a bit about that with us? You mention this in your book as well.

I have got a whole chapter in my first Sunscreens – Biohazard: Treat as Hazardous Wastes. It’s amazing how much research had been done already on how it’s easy to give people certain levels of certain antioxidants and put them in the sun. It’s very easy testing to do. It’s amazing. It’s a whole plethora. It’s all the brightly colored fruits and vegetables, all the spices, and deep leafy greens. It’s amazing how much these protect too. I have talked to people. I speak at different conventions all over the country, at least I used to before COVID. I have had several women come up to me and show me their arms after being in the Mexican sun and saying, “I ate a high antioxidant diet and didn’t need to worry about it at all. I barely turned color.” They were amazed at how well it works.

I noticed when I start someone on a nutrient therapy protocol, they often report that they can tolerate the sun better. Nutrients are powerful.

It’s not just solar radiation. It’s electromagnetic radiation because it’s all oxidation damage, whether it’s solar or electromagnetic. The antioxidants not only help stop the damage. They repair the damage.

That’s another reason to support your local farmer if possible, or order from a regenerative farm online if that is your only option. I mentioned what’s going on in the Netherlands right now. As we continue to move forward in this bizarre direction that we are going in, it’s so critical that we support our local farmers. I can’t stress that enough.

Make those connections and have those relationships so you have access to high-quality food. The foods that we are talking about are whole foods that come from nature, not from a lab, and that aren’t cell-cultured. I don’t think people are going to be happy living on bugs as a protein source in the future and all this cultured lab meat that they are wanting to bring in.

Some things have already slipped into the stores. I have already started to notice some things, but this is critical. I’m so glad that you’ve touched on this. In terms of safe sun exposure, as a fair lady, I can be out in the sun. I’m very diligent about my exposure. I know that exposure is important, and I know having a little bit of color is helpful and protective. What are some other tips for readers in addition to a diet that they can start to incorporate safe sun exposure, especially for those that are more on the fair side like I am?

When you start at the beginning of spring, go outdoors before 10:00 or after 2:00 to gradually increase your tanning and the melanin in your body. It’s important to do that. Over the summer, you should be able to be out there for quite a while. With the antioxidant diet combined, you can be out there for a long time because the antioxidants rise up in the skin. As I said before, we are so well-made. They rise up in the skin and form a protective shield from the radiation that’s coming in. The main thing is the diet, and then go out slowly. Wear long sleeve shirts and hats. I have been reading some historical novels and it’s amazing. Women wore gloves and hats. We knew before how to protect ourselves and we have lost all that.

This is what I do. I know this doesn’t work for everyone because we all have our own schedules, but I like to go out in the morning and exercise, and then do my shopping in the morning before it gets hot. I’m in North Carolina. It can get quite hot here in the summer. If I have to go out in the middle of the day, I wear my large-brimmed hat. I will put a long sleeve shirt on. I will protect myself.

I haven’t worn sunscreen in so long. I feel like my skin looks the best that it has ever looked with the diet that I eat and all the nutrients that I take. These measures that I take to have what we call safe sun exposure are critical. I’m glad you walked us through that. What would you say to someone that says, “You are overreacting. There are chemicals in everything, and everything is a chemical compound. Sunscreen is safe. It’s not that big of a deal.”

I have got hundreds of articles that prove how damaging they are. My major concern is how they are altering our children or our younger people to not feel male or female. That is a huge concern and we see it on the news all the time. It’s such a fight that’s beginning to happen in this country to try to protect the rights of the people that don’t feel male or female. It’s the chemical combinations that are in them which is causing this. We need to pay attention to the chemicals. It’s not just humans. Things are changing in the animals also. When fish quit breeding, what are we going to do when our fish no longer breed? We won’t have fish to eat.

We need to pay attention to the chemicals. They are causing changes not just in humans but in animals also. Click To Tweet

What Sunscreen Does

I appreciate you sharing that. I have one last question for you. What’s one thing you wish people would ask about sunscreens that they never ask?

Does it really stop melanoma? They don’t. They believe the line that they are getting. The commercials are extremely influential. They are done that way to get you to buy. You realize that you can’t go out in the sun without it. I’m in Southern California, so we have sun all the time. I said it in a different podcast, but the teachers stand at the door at recess and tell the kids to put on their sunscreen before they go out for their fifteen-minute recess.

It is absurd to do that because fifteen minutes of sun is great exposure, and not to put chemicals on the body. We need to get it out of our water. It doesn’t come out in waste treatment plants. This is part of the problem. We need to figure out how to get it out of our water so that our kids can start feeling like either the boy or the girl they were born to be. This is critical. It’s also for the perpetuation of all species on the planet because it’s disrupting all types of reproduction.

Water is a big deal. When I first start to work with someone, I do a lot of education about water. I have a lot of resources. City water and even well water are not safe. We have to filter our own water. We have to have a proper filter system. Remineralizing the water, I find that to be helpful as well with some mineral drops if you are using reverse osmosis because that tends to take out everything, and then you want to have hydration to the water.

It’s heartbreaking to me to know that that’s happening in schools because sunscreen blocks vitamin D. No wonder we have a severe deficiency of vitamin D in this country, and I’m sure in other countries. We’re in the United States. It’s because people are slathering on so much sunscreen. They are not getting out in the sun. They are not getting proper sun exposure.

As you were talking about how intense the message and marketing are and how fear-based it is, one thing that came to my mind is how the industry will get a dermatologist to talk about how problematic the sun is, and how they will use these doctors to also push this message. That is powerful because traditionally, we listened to our doctors. We trust what they say. That has changed a lot over the last few years based on what we have seen. That’s a powerful message right there when you are constantly getting that thrown at you, and you are told that you need to do this or you might get cancer. The aging thing is a huge driver as well. It’s all so fascinating, isn’t it?

I want to share a short story about when I first started reacting to electromagnetic radiation, I had a rash all over my body from head to toe. I itch and bled all night. It was a heinous thing to go through. I went to twelve different doctors, and not one of them knew how to help me because electromagnetic radiation symptoms are not in their textbooks. I was finally referred to one of the leading dermatologists in my area.

When I went to him, he suggested all these things that the other twelve doctors had tried. I said, “No, it doesn’t work.” He says, “The thing to do is to get you in our sunroom or our sun area.” They have these stand-up fluorescent solar lights that you undress and then stand in that solar light. I said, “Why?” He said, “The solar radiations help calm the skin.” Medicare pays for this. They’ve got a whole bunch of these solar things there. Right outside is a whole wall of sunscreen products.

You go in and you stand or lie down in a tanning bed exposed to solar panels. When you are done, you can pick up your sunscreen and slather that on. That makes a lot of sense!

The mixed messages are there. I’m in shock. I’m very glad that I’m a clinical laboratory scientist with a very solid foundation in biochemistry that I can look at all these studies and figure out what’s the truth. Our doctors are not taught high biochemistry, and so they are not figuring it out either. It’s sad that we are being led, trained, and treated by doctors who aren’t being taught the truth.

This is not something that’s taught in medical school. Nutrition isn’t taught in medical school. It’s heartbreaking how all these chemicals are impacting our children. It’s heartbreaking all of the health challenges that we are seeing, and the explosion of health challenges specifically in mental health and in the areas of autism, which is where I’m working. Hormonal dysregulation and autoimmune diseases, that’s a whole other show.

I have a similar story to yours. I remember slathering myself with sunscreen when I was a teenager and laying out in the sun and thinking, “This is a great way to protect myself,” and I got a horrible rash too. That was my first clue or my first signal that something was off. It was head to toe. It was very itchy. It was very red. It was very uncomfortable. It lasted a long time. I realized something was off and this does not feel comfortable.

Back then, I was young and I didn’t know. I naturally avoided it because I felt at a deep level that there was something amiss here. Now we have all this wonderful research and we have your books and people like you that are willing to be honest and say, “Despite what the industry says, here’s the truth of what’s happening to our environment, our animals, and our children.” I’m so grateful to you. Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

I’m so glad that you had me on because we are impacting all life on the planet. It’s all in our water. Everything on the planet needs water for life. It’s tragic that we have allowed this to happen. There doesn’t seem to be anybody willing to stand up and say, “This is the truth and we need to stop this insanity.” I truly believe if we stopped using sunscreens, the incidence of melanoma will start going back down to where it was before they brought them out.

Everything on the planet needs water for life. It's tragic that we have allowed chemicals to get into our waters. Click To Tweet

We need to wake up to that and cover up like our ancestors did. They were smart to do that. The antioxidant diet is huge. The Egyptians used rice bran oil. They knew to put this on them to help protect them from the sun. Our ancestors have known how to protect, and we can go back to that without harming the planet and our children, and help our children develop into truly boys or truly girls.

Thank you for your knowledge and your wisdom and all of your insights. We are so grateful to have you.

Thank you. I so appreciate it because it’s hard to read all these articles and sit there and realize that billions of people on the planet don’t know it yet. Everybody, tell everybody because this is the truth about the sunscreen chemicals. Don’t buy clothing that’s impregnated with zinc oxide because all it does is wash out, gets into the water, and eventually wind up in the ocean. It’s not going to help. It’s a closely knit woven fabric. It’s plenty of protection like the farmer’s tan. There wasn’t titanium dioxide in that shirt.

I’m glad you mentioned the clothing as well because I totally forgot about that. We need to remember textiles and how they are made and what they are treated with. It’s not just sunscreens but there are a lot of fabrics out there. Wicking fabrics and antibacterial are big ones. Also, towels and different types of fabrics.

I saw underwear that had aloe-infused yarns, whatever that means. I’m like, “What kind of chemical is infused in this fabric?” It’s not aloe vera from the aloe leaf, but there’s got to be something in there. To your point, think about it. When you wash these items of clothing, how is this going to wash out? How is it going to get into our water supply? How is it going to impact? What are the downstream effects on the fish, the microorganisms in the ocean, and so forth? There’s such a cascade of downstream effects just from that one item of clothing that you throw in the washing machine. Those are the things that we need to be thinking about.

The antibacterial from the silver is damaging also. It builds up in the body and there’s not much way to get the silver out of the body. Doctors are seeing people that are having problems with that. The antibacterial clothing in sheets and all that they had come up with make no sense. It does not, except for the money for the people manufacturing it.

That’s marketing and money for them. Stick as much as you can to natural textiles, organic cotton, linen, and things like that. That’s what I always try to go for. Let’s do what we can together to keep ourselves safe. This has been wonderful. Thank you so much for your time, Elizabeth. You are truly a blessing to the world.

Thank you and so are you. I so appreciate who you are and what you are doing. Thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you, Elizabeth.

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I’m so grateful to Elizabeth for dedicating her life’s work to shining a light on the truth about sunscreens, and I had to share it with you. As we discussed, we are deeply concerned about the impact sunscreens and other chemicals such as glyphosate and atrazine are having on our children’s sexual maturation and mental health. The chemicals used in food production, personal care, and household products contain powerful endocrine disruptors that have had a devastating impact on their development and biochemistry. Thank you for being part of this important conversation. Elizabeth reminds us that everyone needs to become their own health advocate starting with researching what is truly healthy for our bodies.

Important Links

• Sunscreen Research
• Elizabeth’s Books
• North American Menopause Society
• Elizabeth Plourde – LinkedIn
• Sunscreens – Biohazard: Treat as Hazardous Wastes
• Best EMF Products
• Killing Effect of Your Standard Sunscreen on Coral – YouTube
• How Sunscreen is Killing Coral – YouTube
• Could Antioxidants Provide Protection From This Common Toxin?