“Ice cream causes shark attacks”

The Atlético de Madrid footballer, Marcos Llorentehas caused a strong controversy on social networks after sharing a publication in which he questions the use of sunscreens and its relationship with skin cancer.

The player published an image disguised as sunscreen accompanied by a graphic that compares two variables between the years 2000 and 2019: the increase in melanoma detection and the increase in sunscreen salessuggesting that both phenomena could be related.

Along with the graphic, the footballer also shared a list of what he calls “real alternatives” to the use of sunscreen, among them “put yourself in the shade when your body tells you: ‘hey, that’s enough’”, “expose yourself all year round, not just three days in August”, “wear clothes, the original ‘lifelong sun protection’” or “start in the morning and work your way up, don’t start at 1:00 p.m. like a kamikaze.” In the same message he also encourages “progressively building melanin, your natural biological protector,” in addition to “eating like human”, “hydrate” and “connect with nature”.

The publication soon went viral and generated a wave of criticism on the part of scientific communicators and health expertswho consider that this type of messages can generate confusion about skin cancer prevention.

Experts criticize Llorente’s words

One of those who responded with the greatest irony was the health popularizer William Martinknown in networks as Angry Pharmacy. In a video published on his social networks, the pharmacist parodied the argument used by the footballer, ironically proposing an alleged relationship between ice cream consumption and shark attacks.

In his explanation he assures that “a study carried out at Yale for more than 15 years relates its consumption to one of the most terrible premature deaths that you can imagine”, pointing out that “you can lead a completely healthy life, eat well, play sports, but at a time when ice cream consumption increases you can suffer this death.” He then concludes the comparison by asking: “What if ice cream causes shark attacks?“, to add that “The months in which the most ice cream is consumed are also the months in which there are the most shark attacks.”, concluding with irony that “as soon as people start eating ice cream, the sharks start attacking like crazy.”

Another of the critical voices was the political scientist and content creator Adriana Hestwho harshly attacked the footballer’s publication. In his opinion, “the development of sunscreen has occurred at the same time as the development of universal healthcare, science and skin cancer detection,” something that someone “with such ego and negative IQ” would not be taking into account.

Hest also used the same example to illustrate the logical errorremembering that “during the summer there are more shark attacks and people eat more ice cream,” but that “there is no relationship between both circumstances, they simply occur at the same time.”

Additionally, the content creator asked for a greater responsibility in social networks when messages about public health are disseminated from profiles with wide reach, pointing out that “the platforms or The law should control fallacies on networks in such relevant profiles” and warning that, in this case, it could even be “a possible crime against public health encouraging not using sunscreen or not vaccinating babies.”