FDA to Consider Updating Sunscreen Ingredients

Now that winter is here and we're all bundling up, it's the perfect time to talk about sunscreen, right?

Earlier today (December 11th), the FDA announced it was proposing the addition of bemotrizinol (try saying that five times fast.  I'll help.  It's be-moe-trye-zi-nol) as a permitted active ingredient in sunscreen here in the US.

Why should we care?

The last time you bought sunscreen, you probably saw something on the packaging that said that a given product would protect against UVA or UVB rays.  Bemotrizinol is effective against both, and has been an approved ingredient in European sunscreens since 2000.

So we're playing catch-up?

Pretty much.  According to an article from Scientific American, if this proposal goes through, it would be the first new active ingredient approved for use in American sunscreen since 1999.

Without that approval, sunscreens containing bemotrizinol can't be sold in the US.  You have to buy them overseas.

Why is that such a big deal?

The FDA considers sunscreens to be a medical drug, and regulates them accordingly.  So any proposed changes or new sunscreen products are put through the same tests a new prescription medicine would be.

If I'm being honest, part of me finds the idea of something as commonplace and benign as sunscreen having to go through the same testing process as a prescription drug a little funny.

Mostly because I've never considered sunscreen to be a drug.  I mean, I see their logic when I sit and think about it, but if you asked me to name over-the-counter drugs, I'd list off stuff like aspirin, cough syrup, and antacids.  Sunscreen wouldn't be anywhere near that list.

There's no word on when a final decision will be reached, but hopefully it will be before summer.