The Nuance

The Truth About Mineral vs. Chemical Sunscreens

Exploring the science — and lack thereof — behind sunscreen safety

Markham Heid
Elemental
Published in
4 min readApr 7, 2021

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An illustration of a generic blue bottle with a “sun” shaped icon, set against a bright yellow background, centered on the shape of a sun.
Kieran Blakey for Elemental

For a 2019 study, researchers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had healthy people apply common, commercially available sunscreens.

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Markham Heid
Elemental

I’m a frequent contributor at TIME, the New York Times, and other media orgs. I write mostly about health and science. I like long walks and the Grateful Dead.