America is finally catching up on its sunscreen options.
The Food and Drug Administration announced June 9 that it approved bemotrizinol, an ingredient already popular in other countries, for use in American sunscreens — the first time a new ingredient was introduced since the 1990s.
“Bemotrizinol has been used safely in Europe for decades, and FDA’s action will increase competition and consumer confidence in sunscreen products," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a news release.
The agency first announced plans to review bemotrizinol for use in sunblock in December, with then-FDA Commissioner Marty Makary saying the FDA has "historically moved too slowly in this area, leaving Americans with fewer options than consumers abroad."
The process of approving the ingredient was expedited under what's known as the CARES Act, which President Donald Trump signed in 2020 during his first term. The legislation amended a cumbersome, multistep process for over-the-counter drugs in an effort to create a more efficient system.
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"The FDA announcement follows longstanding and ongoing advocacy by the American Academy of Dermatology Association," Dr. Murad Alam, President of the American Academy of Dermatology, told USA Today in a statement. "The AADA believes this approval marks an important public health step by expanding access to safe and effective sunscreens for consumers in the United States and helping save the lives of Americans from skin cancer, one of the most preventable cancers."
Bemotrizinol has low levels of absorption through the skin into the body.
What is it?
Bemotrizinol, or BEMT, is a chemical compound that absorbs UVB and UVA rays. If those sound familiar, it's because you've probably already seen them on every bottle of sunscreen you've ever purchased. The sun emits ultraviolet, or UV, radiation, the thing sunscreens are designed to protect against.
The names UVB and UVA distinguish between the different kinds of rays that make up the radiation, according to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Tanning and burning happen faster with UVA than UVB, and UVB can be filtered by barriers like windows and clouds.
About 95% of UV that reaches the ground is UVA. UVB makes up the additional 5%, according to UT MD Anderson.
Sunblock protects against both in two different ways: putting a physical barrier between your skin and the sun with minerals or by using a chemical that absorbs rays before they can reach you. BEMT is one of the latter.
Why is it effective?
BEMT offers a lot of what we look for in a sunscreen. It's broad-spectrum, meaning it protects against both UVA and UVB, and offers a higher Sun Protection Factor, or SPF, in smaller amounts than other popular ingredients, according to the FDA.
BEMT also is more photostable than other commonly used sunscreen ingredients, meaning it breaks down in the sun more slowly, said Dr. Nisha Varadarajan, dermatologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. It's also oil-soluble, which makes it ideal for incorporating into creams.
It has low levels of absorption through the skin into the body, remaining on the skin surface rather than penetrating it. As a result, less of it ends up in your system. This is in contrast to some other chemical filters used in U.S. sunscreen, which a 2019 FDA review found often ended up in the body at plasma levels above the accepted FDA threshold.
It is also unlikely to cause skin irritation, which the FDA says makes it suitable for safe use in children as young as 6 months of age. In fact, bemotrizinol is a first-of-its-kind in that it is recommended for very young children.
"The current sunscreen recommendations for infants 6 months and older are mineral sunscreens containing zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, as these are less irritating on sensitive skin compared to chemical filters," Varadarajan said. "Bemotrizinol would be the first chemical UV filter recommended to be used on infants due to minimal skin irritation."
BEMT is unlikely to cause skin irritation, which the FDA says makes it suitable for safe use in children as young as 6 months of age.
When will it hit stores?
Starting Aug. 9, sunscreen manufacturers can include bemotrizinol as an active ingredient in sunscreens.
Bemotrizinol sunscreen will first be sold in the United States under the brand name Parsol Shield by the Dutch manufacturer DSM Nutritional Products and is expected to be available this year. After an 18-month exclusive period, other manufacturers will be allowed to follow suit with their own products.
