Our long national sunscreen nightmare is almost over

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On TikTok, young tanned people explain why they no longer wear sunscreen. In one video, A young man films himself in the ocean While describing how you can naturally build a “sun nail” or endure the sun to get burned. (You can’t.) And in others, A flapper He confidently states that eating healthy foods full of polyphenols and other antioxidants will help make your body more resistant to sunburn. (Antioxidants help fight free radical damage, sure, but It cannot replace sunscreen.) She also considers sunscreens containing “unpronounceable chemicals” the real enemy, and promotes “all-natural” mineral sunscreens and…beef tallow. (Sadly, yes, the bums started here To formulate sunscreens with beef tallow in spite of crowd of Dermatologists shouting About the lack of scientific evidence.) Often, anti-sun influencers argue that our ancestors never worried about sun protection (They did) And how could something natural be bad for you? (Natural sun causes sunburn and skin cancer.)

Sunscreen hatred has been strangely widespread, but hopefully that’s about to change.

I’m a different kind of sunscreen evangelist. Last week at WWDC, I found myself chasing down my most adorable colleagues as the sun crept over Apple Park. Did you wear sunscreen? If anyone says no – and many have done so – I will Tsk And I reached into my bag for a tube of Round Lab Birch Juice Moisturizing Sun Cream. I ask them to extend three fingers and tap on their hand three identical lines of Korea’s best SPF technology. Some were grateful. Most of them wince, anticipating something greasy, difficult to rub, and likely to sting their eyes.

Everyone was shocked when… this The sunscreen was none of those things.

That’s because over the past 26 years, American sunscreen has been terrible compared to sunscreen available in the rest of the world. For more than two decades, we’ve been plagued by white casts, sticky textures, and weird chemical odors, which we reluctantly scrub off in tiny amounts that likely fall short of providing the protection labeled SPF. (need A quarter teaspoon For your face alone!) Meanwhile, Asia, Australia and Europe have stylish formulas that not only feel better to wear, but are also more effective at protecting the skin. This has led to Americans dodging sunscreen like New dodges bullets Matrixdespite skin cancer The most common cancer in the United States.

But in the end there is good news. Last week, the F.D.A New chemical sunscreen filter approved For the first time since 1999. Which means, finally, better sunscreen is on the way.

The new filter is pemotrizinol, also known as Tinosorb S or PMT. What makes it exciting to US cosmetic chemists is that it provides broad-spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB rays, is more photostable, and can help stabilize the skin. last Sunscreen filters, and is less likely to be absorbed into the bloodstream because it is a larger molecule. This is important for several reasons, but perhaps the most important is that it can help undo the anti-sunscreen movement.

Concerns about sunscreen use erupted in 2019 and 2021 after the Food and Drug Administration Amending sunscreen regulations and Request more safety data For some chemical sunscreen filters. Researchers have found that ancient chemical filters were absorbed into the bloodstream. Meanwhile, mineral sunscreens such as zinc and GRASE titanium dioxide have been considered—or generally recognized—as safe and effective. (For the record, BEMT was also considered GRASE.)

This has reinforced the idea that mineral sunscreens are superior to chemical sunscreens, which are “bad for your health.” The truth is that the FDA was simply asking for more data. Mineral and chemical sunscreens protect your skin in much the same way – by absorbing UV rays and using a chemical reaction to dissipate them into heat. The difference is that mineral sunscreens also reflect a small portion of UV rays and settle on top of your skin, while chemical filters are absorbed.

Anti-sun videos are actually a minority on social media. Researchers from the University of Alberta He studied nearly 1,000 TikTok videos The top five sunscreen hashtags include; 87 percent promoted the use of sunscreen. The bad news is that 6% of videos spreading misinformation—claiming that sunscreen causes cancer, for example—were received a lot Higher participation rates.

This has consequences. Teenagers are allegedly flocking back to the tanning beds and checking out Weather applications for UV index – It is not to avoid excessive exposure to sunlight, but to seek it out. A reconnaissance The American Academy of Dermatology Association showed that about half of Americans scored a C or lower in sun safety knowledge, while a third of Generation Z scored a D or F. The poll also found that 29 percent of American adults believe tanning is fine as long as you don’t burn. It probably doesn’t help that Health Secretary RFK Jr. recently withdrew the FDA’s proposed rule Tanning beds for minors have been banned. This is not surprising, given that Kennedy is a proponent of tanning and the MAHA movement believes there is The general war on alternative treatments, such as “sunlight”.

But again, the truth is There is no such thing as a “safe” tan. -Any tan is a sign of accumulated skin damage. Which brings us back to why BEMT is such a big deal.

First, BEMT is easier to formulate, more effective at lower concentrations, and is a key ingredient in many universal sunscreens. Conversely, US sunscreens tended to perform poorly in UV protection. This is the type that penetrates deeper into the skin, is responsible for tanning and signs of aging, and contributes to skin cancer in the long term. Ultraviolet (UVB) rays directly harm your skin through sunburn and It can lead to DNA mutations Which causes skin cancer. A 2017 study It found that of 20 sunscreens in the United States, only 11 passed the higher European standards for UV protection. Second, American sunscreens typically rely on avobenzone for UV protection. This filter is known to be photorefractory, which means it degrades quickly when exposed to sunlight. To achieve broad-spectrum protection, it had to be mixed with other filters, but the unfortunate result? Avobenzone also degraded the stability of these other filters.

You might wonder why the United States wouldn’t do anything if better options were so widely available. A large part of that is due to The United States regulates sunscreen as an over-the-counter drug. Most other countries regulate it as a cosmetic. (Australia is an exception, but has a much more streamlined process than the FDA.) This means that any new sunscreen filter must undergo rigorous and very expensive testing. From a business standpoint, many cosmetic companies have decided that juice is not worth the regulatory pressure to repeat a lot of expensive testing for a product that has already been proven safe by other international regulatory bodies.

Mohsen Readers will know that FDA clearance for wearable devices is an ordeal, often to blame for health technology CES ends as a steam show. This is just the medical device clearance process. The drug approval process is much more complex. DSM-Firmenich, a multinational health and beauty company, applied for BEMT approval in 2005, but has remained in FDA regulatory hell. Then, in 2020, the CARES Act helped streamline the over-the-counter approval process, and DSM-Firmenich was able to: Restart the process In late 2024. Along the way, the company has billed for testing and development It is likely to exceed $20 million. On the one hand, this means that BEMT is an intensively studied sunscreen filter. On the other hand, it took 26 years and tens of millions of dollars, when much research was done during that time to prove safety and effectiveness.

Another side effect of the FDA’s arduous approvals process: it has created a gray market for the “good stuff.”

One option is to convince friends traveling abroad to bring luxury sunscreen as souvenirs — something I do every year when family members visit Korea. But the grayest area is global cosmetics export locations. For a long time, the authorities have turned a blind eye to various Korean, Japanese and European brands selling premium sunscreen products on TikTok and other retailers.

But in the last two years or so, so have the FDA and Customs and Border Protection Strictly crack down on OTC compliance Under the Cosmetics Regulatory Modernization Act. Sunscreen obsessives are starting to notice their favorite products disappearing. Popular brands like Beauty of Joseon and Round Lab have had to reformulate worse versions of their products to sell in the United States. Reddit after com.subreddit It was full From angry sunscreen enthusiasts looking for ways to get the original formulas or finding out why their imported packages were suddenly confiscated at customs.

FDA approval of BEMT doesn’t fix all of this right away. For starters, we likely won’t see new sunscreen formulations until August or September. after Peak times for vacationers soaking up the sun. And also just this one New filter. Korea, Japan and Europe have access To about 34 candidateswhile the United States now has access to 16 products. So, while we will have better sunscreens here in the United States, they won’t be quite as advanced as those sold overseas. However, progress is progress. There is hope this will continue thanks to what was recently passed Safe Sun Protection Standards Actwhich simplifies the filter approval process and requires the FDA to evaluate filters already in use in other countries.

I say all this because summer is right around the corner. Don’t listen to TikTok tanning propaganda! Just there one More summers of having to put up with bad sunscreen, so use your remaining bottles with gusto! And maybe this time next year, I won’t have to hound tech journalists at I/O and WWDC, threatening them with tubes of Korean sunscreen.