Protects with the safe and effective mineral zinc oxide
Badger uses zinc oxide as the only active ingredient in all of our sunscreens. Zinc oxide is a safe mineral that sits on top of your skin, scattering, absorbing and reflecting UVA and UVB rays before they reach your living cells. We consider it the safest and most effective active sunscreen ingredient.
YOU NEED AN AVERAGE OF AT LEAST 10-15 MINUTES OF SUNLIGHT EVERY DAY TO PREVENT CANCER
Regularly spending even relatively short intervals of only 10 to 15 minutes in the sunlight allows your body to produce vitamin D, and having adequate vitamin D3 levels can drastically reduce your risk of colon and breast cancer. The data was then used to estimate the average serum level of vitamin D3 among the people living in 177 countries throughout the world.
Here’s what the researchers found:
There’s an inverse association between serum vitamin D and the risk of colorectal and breast cancers. In other words, the higher your vitamin D level, the lower your risk of these two cancers.
YOUR FAMILY’S LIFE IS AT STAKE HERE
Yes, it’s true; this flies in the face of most public health statements and “expert” physicians recommendations to stay OUT of the sun. Sun exposure, they say, can lead not only to skin cancer, but also to premature aging of the skin (wrinkles), and cataracts. It is vital for you to understand, right here and now, that the dangers of sun exposure have been greatly exaggerated, and the benefits highly underestimated.
What is zinc oxide and where does Badger's come from?
Zinc oxide is the metal zinc that has been oxidized. The chemical formula is ZnO, 1 zinc atom and 1 oxygen atom held together by an ionic bond. Zinc oxide does occur in nature as the mineral zincite, but it is quite rare and commercially unavailable. Badger's zinc oxide is manufactured using mined zinc which is then purified into pharmaceutical grade zinc oxide.
What is clear zinc oxide in sunscreen?
Badger's clear zinc oxide is a specialized zinc oxide powder with high transparency and low whiteness and the safety and efficacy profile of a non-nano zinc oxide. It is made of nanoparticles that are strongly bonded together to form non-nano porous aggregate clusters. Importantly, no detectable nanoparticles exist in the final product and this clear zinc oxide meets the Haereticus Environmental Laboratory’s standard for non-nano. Although there are no US regulations prohibiting the use of a “non-nano” claim on clear zinc oxide products, and some other companies make this claim on their clear zinc oxide sunscreens, Badger believes this would be misleading to customers and we are not claiming our clear zinc oxide products are “non-nano”. This decision is in line with Australian definition of the term, which is more stringent than both the US and EU policies. You can read more about the research that Badger has conducted with Scanning Electron Microscope Imaging and Light Scatter Analysis to confirm this claim below.
Badger has been aware of this type of clear zinc oxide since 2008, but we had to be absolutely sure it was safe before we started using it. We conducted independent analyses on the ingredient and followed all the published research. After almost a decade, we now feel confident that this type of clear zinc oxide is safe for use in our sunscreen creams. It is listed as a safe and acceptable UV filter in the US and all major international markets, it meets Badger’s stringent standards for ingredient safety and efficacy, and is acceptable for use in our sunscreen products. Additionally this ingredient is compliant with the natural cosmetic standards of the Natural Products Association (USA) and ECOCERT (EU).
What is a nanoparticle and what is non-nano zinc oxide?
A nanoparticle is a particle smaller than 100 nanometers, or 100 billionths of a meter. Defining whether a powder is non-nano or not is actually rather difficult as it is virtually impossible to ensure that a product is 100% nanoparticle free. Furthermore, many particles are not spherical in shape and thus are difficult to measure.
- The US FDA has declined to weigh in on this controversial issue and does not currently define 'nano' or 'non-nano.’
- In the EU, a nanomaterial is defined as “a natural, incidental or manufactured material containing particles, in an unbound state or as an aggregate or as an agglomerate and where, for 50% or more of the particles in the number size distribution, one or more external dimensions is in the size range 1nm – 100nm."
- The definition is further explained in that “materials where for 50% or more of the particles in the number size distribution, one or more external dimensions are in the size range 1nm – 100nm are classified as nanomaterials.”
- This means that if < 50% of the total particles in the distribution, including aggregates and agglomerates, are within the 1-100nm range in any dimension the particles would be considered non-nano.
- Australia defines a nanomaterial as an “industrial material intentionally produced, manufactured, or engineered to have unique properties or specific composition at the nanoscale, that is a size range typically between 1nm and 100nm, and is either a nano-object (i.e., that is confined in one, two, or three dimensions at the nanoscale) or is nanostructured (i.e., having an internal or surface structure at the nanoscale).”
- The definition continues to state that these nanomaterials must exhibit unique unknown properties. Furthermore, if “a material includes 10% or more number of particles that meet the above definition (size, unique properties, intentionally produced),” then this would be considered a nanomaterial.
- This means that if either of the following are true, the zinc oxide material is considered to be non-nano: a) < 10% of primary particle size is within the 1- 100nm range in any dimension; OR b) < 10% the particles exhibit unique properties
The key element of the Australian definition of nanomaterials is that these particles should display novel characteristics when compared to larger “bulk” particles of the same material. To date, we have not observed any new behavior in the zinc oxide when manufacturing our sunscreens. Badger’s zinc oxide has exhibited the same characteristics as bulk zinc oxide, and so b) is true. According to our SEM micrographs, sedimentation analysis, surface area calculations, and dynamic light scattering studies, our primary particle size is greater than 100nm, so Badger zinc oxide also fulfills the requirement in a) above.
Since the Australian definition of nanomaterials is more stringent than the EU definition (with which we comply), we have decided to adopt Australia’s policies when choosing zinc oxide for our sunscreens. By following these regulations, we can ensure that people around the world can use our sunscreen safely and effectively, and that Badger’s claims are backed up by scientific data collected from independent labs.
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What is the zinc oxide nanoparticle controversy about anyway?
The nanoparticle controversy stems from the potential health risks caused by nanoparticles if they were to enter the human body. When a substance is so small that it is measured in nanometers (1 to 100 billionths of a meter), the surface area to volume ratio is so great that the actual properties of the substance may change. One comprehensive review of the scientific literature shows that nano-particles of zinc oxide greater than 30nm do not exhibit properties any different than those of larger non-nano sized particles.
