https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/is-sunscreen-safe/Why has...

https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/is-sunscreen-safe/

Why has sunscreen not been tested for health impacts yet?Sunscreen isn’t just a cosmetic here in the U.S., it’s a medication. Sunscreens were initially approved as medications many, many decades ago, before a lot of modern-era drug regulations really took place. It’s really now, in more recent years, that we have clear standards for how all over-the-counter medications are tested. But that retesting [for chemical sunscreen] never happened.

So are sunscreen manufacturers required to go out and do these tests?That’s correct. There’s a proposal that’s been put forth by the FDA that they would like this to happen before November of 2019. However, this conversation has been going on for decades. The FDA has regulated sunscreens since the 1970s. And in the late 1990s, the FDA asked sunscreen manufacturers to provide the safety data about systemic absorption. And for many years, they’ve gone back and forth, and for various reasons, they have not seen the results yet.

What are some sunscreen alternatives? love the idea of covering up. It’s very important for people to wear protective clothing. That includes hats, sunglasses, long-sleeved shirts, long pants when outdoors, and then to use sunscreen on the areas that are exposed. People have a lot of control over when they do their exercise, for example, avoiding direct sun during the peak hours of the sun, which are defined as 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and seeking shade when possible.

There still are sunscreens that we know are safe. These are the mineral sunscreens that I mentioned earlier, the titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. Those are widely available throughout the U.S. and have been tested and deemed safe. So, those are a great option for people who have any concerns about chemical sunscreens.