Is it Sunset for Sunscreen? The 331st Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying

June 23, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Is Sunscreen Making Us Sick?

A 2023 UK Biobank study of over 470,000 people found something its authors did not expect and did not want to discuss: people who reported using sunscreen more frequently had dramatically higher rates of melanoma (292% higher), basal cell carcinoma (140% higher), and squamous cell carcinoma (126% higher). The researchers controlled for age, sex, skin type, tanning ability, sunburn history, sunlamp use, and time spent outdoors. Yet when they found this result, they did not highlight it. Instead, they offered three post-hoc explanations—greater UV exposure, user error in reapplication, or increased sunscreen use after a cancer diagnosis—and then moved on. As Bret Weinstein puts it, "This is some of the most egregious pseudoscience I have actually seen."

The Study That Found Something It Didn't Want to Find

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What you'll learn

1 (00:28) **The Sunscreen Paradox Introduced** - Bret and Heather frame the episode around the surprising finding that sunscreen use is associated with higher risk of skin cancer, not lower.
2 (03:49) **Reading from "Hunter Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century"** - Heather reads the book's medicine chapter, which argues that sun avoidance is a major mortality risk factor.
3 (10:58) **The UK BioBank Study: Sunscreen Linked to Higher Skin Cancer Risk** - Nicholas Holcher's substack reports a 470,000+ person study finding dramatically higher skin cancer risk among sunscreen users.
4 (13:01) **Critique of the Study's Authors and Methods** - Bret and Heather examine the original 2023 paper and find its handling of the sunscreen result unscientific.
5 (26:00) **Six Hypotheses for the Sunscreen-Cancer Correlation** - Bret proposes six non-exclusive explanations for why sunscreen use might correlate with higher skin cancer risk.
6 (33:23) **Aluminum in Sunscreens: A 2007 Letter to the Editor** - Heather reads a letter from Nicholson & Exley showing aluminum is present in all tested sunscreens, even those not listing it as an ingredient.
7 (41:10) **Six Hypotheses for the Sunscreen-Cancer Correlation** - Bret enumerates six non-exclusive explanations for the observed link.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

On this, our 331st Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss sunscreen and vegans. It’s Summer, and the sun is out! Should you slather yourself in sunscreen, stay indoors, or seek moderate exposure to the sun that grows in intensity that more your skin becomes acclimated to the season? The last, of course. Research has found that sunscreen use may be positively correlated with skin cancer, but a) “sunscreen” is not just one thing, and most but not all sunscreen is positively toxic, and b) all cause mortality is lower in people who get regular (non-sunscreened) sun exposure, so even if sunscreen does lower your risk of skin cancer—the sun is protecting your health in other ways. Also consider ditching the sunglasses, and donning a hat. Then: even the New York Times can’t figure out whose team they’re on, as a vegan in Portland tries to get Oregonians to outlaw hunting, fishing, animal research, conventional livestock production, and “lethal pest control.”

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Music: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan
This track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.net
Free License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net

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Mentioned in this episode:

Hulscher’s substack: https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/study-finds-sunscreen-use-linked

Jeremian et al 2023. Gene–Environment analyses in a UK biobank skin Cancer cohort identifies important SNPs in DNA repair genes that may help prognosticate disease risk. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 32(11): 1599-1607: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10840669/pdf/nihms-1929398.pdf

Nicholson & Exley, C 2007. Aluminum: a potential pro-oxidant in sunscreens/sunblocks? Fre