Today's News: July 17, 2020

World News

Mongolia warns of bubonic plague outbreak as SEVENTEEN provinces bordering Russia are deemed at risk

RT – While the spread of Covid-19 is starting to slow down in Russia, the world’s largest country may have another outbreak on its doorstep.
An expert in Mongolia has warned that the bubonic plague may spread throughout the country on Russia’s border.
Bandikhuu Amgalanbayar, the deputy director of Mongolia’s National Center for the Study of Zoonotic Infections, has warned that over a hundred districts in 17 of the 21 provinces are at risk of a bubonic plague outbreak. Russia and Mongolia share an almost 3,500km border.
The potential of an outbreak first came to light on July 3, when Mongolian media reported that a man and a woman from Mongolia’s western Khovd region were suspected of having contracted the disease after eating raw marmot meat.

United Kingdom Cervical Cancer Charity Rejects #OnlyFemalesGetCervicalCancer Hashtag

#OnlyFemalesGetCervicalCancer called a “disgustingly transphobic lie” by LGBTQ media.
National File – A United Kingdom cervical cancer charity sent a message of support to the transgender community on Twitter, denouncing the hashgtag #OnlyFemalesGetCervicalCancer, and advising the community that anybody with a cervix was welcome to support, regardless of gender identity.
Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust wrote their tweet to clarify their position after the #OnlyFemalesGetCervicalCancer hashtag appeared and began trending on Twitter, polarizing debate over biology versus gender identity.
In a tweet, the charity wrote “We’re aware a hashtag is trending that raises the issue of gender identity and cervical health. At Jo’s we want to ensure everyone with a cervix has access to the information and support they need to attend #CervicalScreening, regardless of their gender identity.”
The tweet itself further confounded many social media users. Some were particularly miffed by the message as there concerns rested with vulnerable, disaffected biological women.
“Many of the most vulnerable women in our society and globally are those who will not understand that ‘everyone with a cervix’ applies to them. Congratulations on being so inclusive that your brains fell out,” one person commented.
Another person joked, “Where can people buy a cervix? Are they available online, or do you have to buy in person from a licensed retailer? Is it possible to buy a reconditioned one, or are they only sold new? Do they come with a warranty, and for how long? Is the install DIY or pro only?”
LGBT+ news source Pink News supported the charity’s message, blasting the original hashtag as a “disgustingly transphobic lie.”
In an article titled “UK’s biggest cervical cancer charity shuts down disgustingly transphobic lie that ‘only females get cervical cancer’” the publication condemned the Twitter campaign that was deemed as not inclusive of transgender and non-binary owners of cervixes, noting that female-to-male transgendered men and nonbinary individuals can both have a cervix.
The original hashtag was used to draw attention to the prevalence of the disease, and does not appear to have been used by all campaigners to silence the transgendered community.
“We must be able to talk about female biology. We must be able to talk about cervical cancer, and uterine cancer, and ovarian cancer. We must be able to talk about smear tests. Not being able to talk about these puts us at risk,” tweeted one campaigner.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Georgia Gov. Kemp sues Atlanta to block mandatory mask rule, saying local leaders want to ‘undermine economic growth’

City’s mayor said she is prepared for court fight
Fox – Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is suing Atlanta to block the city from enforcing its mandate to wear a mask in public and other rules related to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying in a court filing that the city’s leadership was illegally circumventing state executive orders with their own edicts.
Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, in a suit filed in state court late Thursday, argued that Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has overstepped her authority and must obey Kemp’s executive orders under state law.
Kemp “seeks to have this Court make a declaration that Mayor Bottoms’ executive orders are more restrictive and contradictory to his executive orders, and therefore, Mayor Bottoms’ COVID-related executive orders are suspended,” the lawsuit states.
Bottoms had announced on July 10 that Atlanta would go back to “phase 1” status as coronavirus cases surged, arguing the state had been “recklessly” reopened too soon. The move threatened to shutter restaurant dining rooms and non-essential city facilities. At the same time, Bottoms claimed her orders were not “inconsistent” with Kemp’s.
“This lawsuit is on behalf of the Atlanta business owners and their hardworking employees who are struggling to survive during these difficult times,” Kemp said in a statement. “These men and women are doing their very best to put food on the table for their families while local elected officials shutter businesses and undermine economic growth.”

Berkeley police will no longer be tasked with issuing traffic citations: report

Fox – The Berkeley City Council announced Wednesday some changes to its policing in the wake of the nationwide anti-police protests and said unarmed city workers will now be tasked with handing out traffic citations.
The East Bay Times reported that that changes for the Berkeley police will take effect in the coming months, but the ultimate goal is to cut the police department’s budget by half. The call to cut police funding by that percentage seems to be adopted by protesters across the country, including activists from Seattle’s CHOP.
Mayor Jesse Arreguin reportedly told an audience that the city is committed to transforming public safety in the city.
“And for far too long, public safety has been equated with more police,” he said. The paper said stripping police from issuing traffic citations would be the first of its kind in the country.
Arreguin said he doesn’t expect a new transportation department overnight because conversations will be hard and detailed with complicated logistics to figure out. But he said communities of color in his city feel targeted by police and that needs to change.
“There may be situations where police do need to intervene, and so we need to look at all that,” he said. “We need to look at if we do move traffic enforcement out of the Police Department, what does that relationship look like and how will police officers work in coordination with unarmed traffic enforcement personnel?”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted a link to the story, “This will not make us safer.”

UNIVERSITY TO MANDATE ‘RACE AND ETHNICITY’ COURSE FOR ALL STUDENTS

Racial re-education will be a requirement for study at the institute
Infowars – Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia is to mandate that all of its students take a “Race and Ethnicity Requirement” course from next year, following consistent demands from the university’s black student group.
Campus Reform reports that the university wants all students to understand “how racial and ethnic antagonisms and inequality develop historically.”
“After careful consideration over the past six years, and in ongoing consultation with faculty, students, and administrators, the Emory College Faculty Senate and the Working Group on the Undergraduate Curriculum concur that Emory University has a particular obligation and opportunity to focus a diversity requirement on the crucial role of race and ethnicity in shaping our institutions, and in furthering students’ understanding of current domestic and international political and social relations,” a statement reads.
Black students at the university have been lobbying for the move for over five years.
Back in 2015 a letter from the group noted that it was “still reeling at injustices made by the University and the lack of adequate action.”
The students demanded that officials at the university “understand and then appropriately address the mental stress incurred by Black Students at this institution on a daily basis.”
“The Bias Incident Reporting that Emory University has not been efficient because they have not thoroughly tended to the concerns of those who have used the reporting system,” the students also declared, adding that “The microaggressions and macroaggressions that Black students experience which lead to our trauma should not be regarded for the sole purpose of data collection.”

‘We’ve seen this happening all over the country’: Statue of Jesus BEHEADED inside Florida church in alleged hate crime

RT – A statue of Jesus has been left headless in the courtyard of a Catholic church in Kendale Lakes, Florida, after allegedly being vandalized. The Miami Archdiocese says it expects police to pursue the incident as a hate crime.
The statue of Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd had been resting behind the church for decades before meeting its end, allegedly decapitated by vandals overnight into Wednesday.
It’s unclear who was behind the act, with church staff saying they found the statue early on Wednesday morning with its head already separated from its body, lying nearby on the ground.
Although the church is equipped with security cameras, Deacon Edivaldo da Silva told local media that CCTV footage would hardly be helpful to identify those responsible, as none of the cameras show the damaged statue.
Still, the Archdiocese of Miami believes the circumstances of the case point to foul play, rather than to an unfortunate accident.
“This is not something you can trip over and say, ‘Oh, sorry,’ – Someone did this intentionally,” spokesperson Mary Ross Agosta told local media.
Agosta said the church sees it as not merely an act of vandalism – which has been on the rise in the wake of the George Floyd protests, with activists toppling statues of historical figures across the country – but an “an attack on the church” that should be investigated as a “hate crime.”
The archdiocese noted that the suspected hate-fueled attack on the statue is not an isolated incident, and that the Catholic Church as a whole has faced an avalanche of similar attacks recently.
This is another attack on the Catholic Church which is happening across the country.
Miami-Dade police have launched a probe into the incident.
Last Saturday, a statue of Mary was set on fire in St. Peter’s Parish Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts, with police saying that suspects ignited the plastic flowers the statue was holding.
On July 10, a 100-year-old statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the entrance of Cathedral Preparatory School and Seminary in New York was spray painted with the word ‘IDOL’. The NYPD are investigating the incident as criminal mischief.

California Churches Have Been Shut Down Indefinitely, And The NFL Season May Be In Jeopardy

Michael Snyder – As I have warned many times before, life is not going to be getting back to normal any time soon. The state of California just instituted a whole bunch of new COVID-19 restrictions, and the California Department of Health has confirmed that as a result of those new restrictions all in-person church gatherings have been banned “with no definite end date”. Of course many churches will continue to have online services, but it just isn’t the same. And with greatly reduced revenues coming in for the foreseeable future, a lot of smaller churches may not be able to survive. It is one thing to lock down a state for a few weeks so that hospitals do not get completely overwhelmed during a pandemic, but it looks like California may be locked down for months to come, and some are even speculating that the restrictions could stretch into next year.
When the new restrictions were put into place, a lot of people didn’t understand that they included church services too. Sadly, the California Department of Health has made it clear that no “indoor religious services” will be permitted…
The California Department of Health clarified Tuesday to the Daily Caller News Foundation that indoor religious services in the state have been suspended with no definite end date.
Over four months after California initially instituted a lockdown on March 19, the state issued a new coronavirus order Monday that rolled back reopening plans. The order mandates that restaurants, bars, churches, fitness centers, hair salons, and barber shops must be closed in 30 of the hardest hit counties in California.
Each week, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. has continued to rise, and at this point it appears unlikely that the state of California will lift these new restrictions any time soon.
That also means that there won’t be any crowds at sporting events in the state for the foreseeable future either.

Elderly Man Killed After Mask Dispute, Police Shooting

Man’s refusal to wear mask in store ends in fatal shooting, reports indicate
Newswars – A 73-year-old man is dead following a dispute over a face mask and subsequent confrontation with police in Ontario, Canada, according to reports.
Officers were called to a Valu-Mart store in the township of Minden after an altercation involving a man who refused to wear a mask inside, police told local media.
“He was refused service and the assault happened thereafter. So our people became involved with that initial assault investigation and follow-up,” said Sgt. Jason Folz.
The man subsequently left the scene and was followed briefly by police who say they ran his license plates to determine his destination, a home in the Village of Haliburton, some 25 miles from the Valu-Mart.
Shortly after, officers turned up at the home, and a deadly confrontation unfolded.
“Officers attended there, where shots were fired. Additional OPP resources were brought in and ultimately a 73-year-old male was transported to hospital, where he died,” Sgt. Folz explained.
Investigators have determined two officers discharged their firearms during the shooting, but have not confirmed whether the victim was armed.
“I guess he just got angry and didn’t want to [wear a mask]. We couldn’t really deal with that ourselves because it’s really against the rules. So we had to call the police and everything,” Valu-Mart employee Tianna Frances told CBC.
“If we didn’t have to force him and … tell him that he couldn’t come into the store, nothing would have happened, really. He would have got his groceries and went along with his day.”

TWITTER HACK TRIGGERS BRAD PARSCALE’S REMOVAL AS TRUMP’S CAMPAIGN MANAGER – ANALYSIS

Parscale wants to fight for Trump’s re-election on social media, but Trump’s enemies control most of the major platforms, and as Gen. George S. Patton once said, “never let the enemy pick the battle site.”
Infowars – The recent Twitter ‘hack’ targeting numerous luminaries likely played a part in the removal of Brad Parscale as President Trump’s campaign manager.
Parscale is known as a data expert, particularly in the realm of social media, but the severity of this Twitter ‘hack,’ in which Bitcoin scam tweets were simultaneously sent out from the Twitter accounts of several dignitaries, underscores the weakness of the Trump campaign relying too much on social media which Parscale was heavily pushing.
Case in point, one of the most interesting aspects of the Twitter ‘hack’ was the emergence of screenshots purported to be Twitter’s internal user management panel that gives employees God-like control over user accounts.
“Techies believe that the tool is used to alter ownership of accounts, yet was used by the hackers to gain control of high-profile accounts,” Steve Watson reported. “The screenshot shows tabs labeled ‘SEARCH BLACKLIST’ and ‘TRENDS BLACKLIST.’”
“Conservatives are convinced that this could be evidence that Twitter does indeed have tools to censor what tweets and topics can be accessed through searches and what tweets appear as trends.”
If true, the control panel shows how user accounts, including that of President Trump and his campaign, can be managed and even manipulated by a hacker or a conspirator inside Twitter – and it makes one wonder if Parscale’s social media ads he bought over the past several months were suppressed by the click of a control panel button.
In short, Parscale wants to fight for Trump’s re-election on social media, but Trump’s enemies control most of the major platforms, and as Gen. George S. Patton once said, “never let the enemy pick the battle site.”
Big Tech is well aware of how social media helped Trump win the 2016 election, and they won’t allow it again in 2020.
The Twitter ‘hack’ – and perhaps even the ‘control panel’ screenshots – likely convinced Trump that Parscale was too limited in scope for a 2020 re-election campaign that will have to evolve to face the challenges which weren’t present in 2016.

Herd Immunity Level in UK High Enough to Dodge Second Wave of COVID-19, Claims Study

Sputnik – The results of an earlier study carried out in Spain suggested that so-called herd immunity was not a feasible way to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, as it showed that no more than five percent of the population had developed antibodies – nowhere near the levels said to be required to develop herd immunity.
Herd immunity in the UK may have reached the required level to shield the population of the country against a second wave of COVID-19, suggests a new study by Oxford University scientists, cited by The Independent.
In the paper, “The impact of host resistance on cumulative mortality and the threshold of herd immunity for SARS-CoV-2,” yet to be peer-reviewed, the researchers hypothesise that some of the population in the UK may already have developed a high level of immunity to the novel coronavirus without previously succumbing to the respiratory disease.
The research suggests that there is evidence showing a degree of resistance to immunity is displayed after exposure to such frequent seasonal coronaviruses as the common cold, while some people might just be naturally more resistant to infection.
The study modelled how interaction between the varying levels of pre-existing immunity could impact the overall “threshold” required to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19.
The results of the study suggested the requisite threshold might be as low as 20 percent.
“It is widely believed that the herd immunity threshold (HIT) required to prevent a resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 is in excess of 50 per cent for any epidemiological setting. Here, we demonstrate that HIT may be greatly reduced if a fraction of the population is unable to transmit the virus due to innate resistance or cross-protection from exposure to seasonal coronaviruses,” write the authors of the study, Jose Lourenco, Francesco Pinotti, Craig Thompson, and Sunetra Gupta, of Oxford University.
The scientists conclude that the results of the research seem to suggest that sufficient herd immunity may already be manifest, substantially mitigating a potential resurgence of the disease.
Models run by Professor of mathematics and statistics at Strathclyde University Gabriela Gomes have shown similar calculations, determining a threshold of under 20 percent needed for herd immunity, writes the outlet.
The research was based on what are known as heterogeneous models – like in the case of the above-mentioned Oxford University study – which operates under the premise that different levels of immunity are rampant within the population.
In the case when a vaccine is available to treat a specific disease, herd immunity is typically calculated using a homogenous model that assumes the population predominantly has the same level of immunity.
Results from running studies based on the two models can have vastly significant differences, suggest scientists.
“There doesn’t need to be a lot of variation in a population for epidemics to slow down quite drastically… in the heterogeneous population, individuals are not infected at random. The highly susceptible people are more likely to get infected first. As a result, the average susceptibility gets lower and lower over time,” Gomes was quoted as saying by The Atlantic.
The scientist added that after continuously running the models, the results kept showing a required threshold of less than 20 percent.

5 vacation destinations opening their borders to Americans this summer

Fox – COVID-19 has made travel insanely complicated this year, mostly due to various travel bans, quarantine requirements and added safety precautions like temperature checks and mask mandates. Some experts even say that travel is not safe this year, and that most people would be better off staying home until a vaccine is on the market and caseloads start to trend downward.
But, if you want to travel in 2020, some countries are opening their borders to Americans this summer—with conditions. Here are five countries you can visit if you are willing to take the risk.
The Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda is now open to international travelers, including Americans. Currently, temperature checks are required upon arrival, and face coverings are required in the airport. Antigua is a popular tropical destination thanks to its 365 white-sand beaches, its crystal-clear water and its many popular hotels and resorts that cater to couples and families.

Antigua and Barbuda
Aruba
The Bahamas
Barbados
Belize

Defense secretary effectively bans Confederate flags from military bases while rejecting ‘divisive symbols’

Washington Post – Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper effectively banned the display of the Confederate battle flag on U.S. military installations on Friday, saying in a memo that the “flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divisive symbols.”
The memo does not explicitly mention Confederate banners, but states that the American flag is the “principal flag we are authorized and encouraged to display.”
“Flags are powerful symbols, particularly in the military community for whom flags embody common mission, common histories, and the special, timeless bond of warriors,” Esper wrote in his memo, obtained by The Washington Post. “As Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, a veteran of the Second World War, once wrote about the United States flag: ‘It is a symbol of freedom, of equal opportunity, of religious tolerance, and of good will for other peoples who share our aspirations.”

Economy & Business

Millions of Americans can’t afford rent and eviction looms

Nearly 12 million adults live in households that missed their last rent payment
Fox – Millions of Americans who have missed rent payments due to the coronavirus pandemic could be at risk of being evicted in the coming months unless government measures to protect them are extended, economists and housing experts say.
Nearly 12 million adults live in households that missed their last rent payment, and 23 million have little or no confidence in their ability to make the next one, according to weekly Census Bureau data.
About a third of the country’s renters are protected by an eviction moratorium that covers properties with federally insured mortgages. That expires July 25. Many renters are jobless and depend on supplemental weekly unemployment benefits of $600 that are due to end on July 31.
A number of cities and states have broader protections that will remain in place longer. Boston has banned evictions from public housing through the end of the year. Pennsylvania recently extended its moratorium against evictions for nonpayment of rent until Aug. 31.
The White House is negotiating with Republicans and Democrats in Congress to pass another round of economic relief during the last week of July. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said supplemental jobless benefits have created a disincentive to return to work as the economy starts to reopen and should be reduced.
House Democrats voted in May to expand the eviction moratorium to cover all residential dwellings and extend it by a year. The bill included an extension of enhanced jobless benefits and $100 billion in rental assistance. The office of Sen. Mike Crapo (R., Idaho), chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, declined to comment on any GOP plan to keep people in their homes because negotiations are under way.
Paying rent is a struggle for Americans whose jobs evaporated when government-imposed lockdowns closed businesses ranging from barber shops and restaurants to stores and fitness centers. More than 18 million people were receiving unemployment insurance during the last week of June.

Target, CVS Shoppers Will Be Required To Wear Masks

NPR – Target and CVS are the latest national retail chains requiring customers to wear masks as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to skyrocket.
The companies announced the new policies on Thursday following similar moves by a growing number of retailers acting to fill a void left by local, state and federal agencies that have so far refused to set mandatory face coverings policies.
As of Thursday, only about half of the country’s states require masks in public places.

Energy & Environment

Monsoon floods, landslides ravage South Asia, at least 221 dead

Al Jazeera – Floods and landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 221 people across South Asia over the past month, officials said on Friday.
More than one million people have been marooned in Nepal, Bangladesh and India and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes for higher ground.
Indian officials said floods and mudslides killed 16 more people in the northeast and eight people were killed in building collapses in Mumbai, raising the death toll in the country to 101. Nepal reported at least 117 deaths over the past month and Bangladesh reported three.

Health

Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Induced Adverse Reactions In “More Than Half” Of Trial Participants

Just the News – highly anticipated clinical trial for a potential COVID-19 vaccine managed in part by the American drug company Moderna has resulted is some adverse effects in more than half of the trial’s participants, with one test group reporting “severe” symptoms.
The trial, which is also being sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, administered the vaccine “as a 0.5-ml injection in the deltoid muscle” in two shots spaced about one month apart. Two separate groups received 25-microgram and 100-microgram doses, respectively. A third group with a 250-microgram dose was subsequently added.
The vaccine “induced anti–SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in all participants,” the research team reported Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers said that “no trial-limiting safety concerns were identified.” Yet a majority of participants still reported at least one side effect.
“Solicited adverse events that occurred in more than half the participants included fatigue, chills, headache, myalgia, and pain at the injection site,” the report states. Fever, joint pain and nausea were also reported.
Side effects grew more common with more (and larger) injections, the scientists write: “Systemic adverse events were more common after the second vaccination, particularly with the highest dose, and three participants (21%) in the 250-μg dose group reported one or more severe adverse events.”
Notably, every participant in the two larger-dose groups reported adverse reactions after their second injections. One study participant in the smallest-dose group, meanwhile, was removed due to having developed hives after the first round of injections.
The scientists said that due to the ongoing status of the project, they are not yet “able to assess the durability of the immune responses” generated by the vaccine, but that they intend to follow participants “for 1 year after the second vaccination” and examine regular blood samples to monitor the vaccine’s effects.
A large trial “expected to evaluate a 100-μg dose” is “anticipated to begin during the summer of 2020,” the report states.

Your past seasonal colds could actually SAVE you from Covid-19, Oxford study suggests

RT – According to research, some of the population may already have immunity to the deadly coronavirus without having been infected. If this proves to be true, it could limit the further mortal consequences of the disease worldwide.
A group of scientists from Oxford University conducted a new study which suggests exposure to seasonal coronaviruses – including the common cold – could already have provided the population with the immunity needed “to mitigate a potential second wave” of Covid-19.
The paper is yet to be peer-reviewed, but if it’s proven credible, it could be a huge breakthrough in the fight against coronavirus.
While it’s widely believed that the herd immunity threshold (HIT) “required to prevent a resurgence of the virus” should exceed 50% “for any epidemiological setting,” Oxford scientists demonstrated that it “may be greatly reduced if a fraction of the population is unable to transmit the virus due to innate resistance or cross-protection from exposure to seasonal coronaviruses.”

Top 10 Natural Cough and Lung Remedies

Green Med Info – If you’re feeling a tell-tale tickle in your throat that signifies a cough may be coming on, it’s time to stock up on the top 10 natural cough and lung remedies. You don’t need narcotic syrups or prescription medicines to start breathing easier today
For decades, the conventional way of managing a low-grade cough has been to take a medicated cough syrup. Whether obtained through a doctor’s prescription or purchased over the counter (OTC), cough syrups can contain potentially habit-forming ingredients that come with strong contraindications for many individuals.
Prescription cough syrups may contain the opiate narcotic codeine, known for its potential for abuse, while OTC cough medicines often use dextromethorphan (DXM) or promethazine as active ingredients, both potentially addictive sedative drugs.[i]
Medicated cough syrups must carry warnings to minors and pregnant or breastfeeding women. In addition, cough syrup labels warn of the dangers of overdose, which can require urgent medical attention.[ii]
As if that weren’t enough reason for pause, a total of 270 drugs are known to interact with dextromethorphan,[iii] and a whopping 683 drugs are known to interact with codeine/promethazine.[iv]
If you’re seeking a safer way to mitigate a scratchy throat and low-grade cough, look no further. We have compiled 10 of the top natural cough remedies that are safe (and even enjoyable) for young and old and everyone in between.

Ginger
Moisture
3. Thyme
Honey
Neti Pot
Marshmallow Root
Turmeric
Eucalyptus
Bromelain
Spiced Tea

For an extra kick, try adding a dash of cayenne pepper, especially if you want to treat a wet cough. Capsaicin, a compound found in chili peppers, has been shown to reduce chronic coughing. Don’t forget to add honey for the extra throat coat as well as to soothe the bite off this ultra-spicy therapeutic potion.

FDA: Chemicals From Sunscreen Found in Bloodstream

NewsMax – A new study from the Food and Drug Administration has found that chemicals from sunscreen can appear in the bloodstream at higher levels than the agency’s safety threshold, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The FDA examined six of the chemicals most commonly used in sunscreen: avobenzone, oxybenzone, octocrylene, homosalate, octisalate and octinoxate, and found that the maximum concentration varied from 3.3 nanograms per milliliter to 258.1, which is well above the level at which the agency recommends analysis, 0.5 nanograms per milliliter, for adverse effects like increased risk of cancer or birth defects.
The Journal adds that “For comparison, a concentration of 4 nanograms per milliliter of THC, the compound in marijuana that gets you high, corresponds to a blood alcohol content of 0.04% by weight — about what a person weighing 180 pounds would register after drinking two beers.”
The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that “all 6 of the tested active ingredients administered in 4 different sunscreen formulations were systemically absorbed and had plasma concentrations that surpassed the FDA threshold for potentially waiving some of the additional safety studies for sunscreens. These findings do not indicate that individuals should refrain from the use of sunscreen.”
>> Check out EWG’s 2020 Sunscreen Guide