Is Your Sunscreen Safe?

This spring, the FDA announced it is reevaluating the safety of every single chemical sunscreen agent. Makes you a little nervous, right?

- Jessica Chia

Us, too. And since we’re not going to find out the results of this reevaluation until November, we all have a long, confusing, sun-filled summer ahead. So we did our best to get as many answers as possible to help you—and, fine, us—make the right decision right now.

So why the closer look at sunscreen ingredients in the first place? The FDA told us it’s because a growing body of data suggests that more sunscreen is absorbed through the skin and into the circulatory system than we thought. That raises previously unevaluated safety concerns about sunscreens, including the potential for effects on reproduction. The FDA has found that there’s a lack of data—not negative data, but a lack of it—on how chronic exposure to sunscreen filters will affect our bodies, so it’s requested additional data from beauty brands to better understand which sunscreens are absorbed and the impact of that absorption. Until we get that info, the only two sunscreen filters the FDA will categorize as Generally Recognized as Safe and Effective now are titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, which are also the only two “mineral” filters we have. “Research has found that they don’t significantly penetrate skin,” says cosmetic chemist Perry Romanowski. The FDA has already proposed that two ingredients be classified as unsafe for use in sunscreens: PABA and trolamine salicylate. But don’t worry. Those ingredients haven’t been used in sunscreens for at least 20 years, says Steven Wang, a dermatologist in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.