Why Doesn't the US Have Better Sunscreen?

The short answer is that the U.S. treats sunscreen like an over-the-counter drug, not just a cosmetic. That means new UV filters have to clear a formal FDA review for safety and effectiveness before they can be sold widely. The FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research oversees sunscreen ingredients under the OTC drug review process, the same regulatory pipeline used for non-prescription pain relievers and allergy medicines, while in Europe and much of Asia the same ingredients are treated more like cosmetics and reach shelves faster.

That system makes sunscreen safer in theory, but also slower. If a UV filter is already common in Europe or Asia, that does not automatically make it available in the U.S. market. Manufacturers still have to work through the FDA process, and that process has historically moved slowly enough that dermatologists and consumers noticed how few new options were arriving. Filters like Tinosorb S, Tinosorb M, Mexoryl SX, Mexoryl XL, and Uvinul A Plus have been available in European sunscreens for years, but most are still not on U.S. shelves. The U.S. has historically been stuck on roughly the same set of filters it had in the late 1990s: avobenzone, octinoxate, oxybenzone, octisalate, homosalate, octocrylene, and a few mineral filters.

The U.S. also enforces stricter testing standards for the labeled SPF number than many other countries, which is why a U.S. SPF 50 is roughly equivalent to a European SPF 30, according to the FDA’s own comparisons. European testing allows higher concentrations of certain UVA filters that boost the measured SPF, and the FDA has been wary of allowing those higher concentrations without separate absorption and systemic safety data. The agency has also been cautious about coral reef safety, particularly for oxybenzone and octinoxate, after laboratory studies linked them to coral bleaching. Hawaii banned those two filters in 2021, and several other states and Caribbean jurisdictions have followed.

The good news is that the system is not frozen. On June 9, 2026, the FDA added bemotrizinol to the sunscreen monograph, calling it the first new active ingredient added in more than 20 years. Bemotrizinol is a broad-spectrum filter that has been used in European and Australian sunscreens for years and provides strong UVA protection with low skin penetration. The decision does not solve every sunscreen complaint, but it does show that the U.S. market is finally moving.

The practical takeaway for shoppers is that you do not need to wait for new filters to protect your skin. A broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher, reapplied every two hours and after swimming or sweating, blocks about 97 percent of UVB rays, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. Mineral filters like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide work, chemical filters work, and combining them is fine. The best sunscreen is the one you will actually use, and the EWG’s annual sunscreen guide is a useful way to scan ingredient lists if you have preferences about specific filters.

There is also a deeper reason the U.S. is conservative about sunscreen ingredients: systemic absorption data. A 2019 and 2020 FDA study found that several commonly used chemical filters — including oxybenzone, octinoxate, homosalate, octisalate, and octocrylene — were absorbed into the bloodstream at levels above the FDA’s 0.5 ng/mL threshold that triggers a safety waiver for systemic drugs. The agency has not banned those filters, but it has asked manufacturers to provide more safety data and has asked consumers to keep using sunscreen rather than skip protection while the review continues. The CDC, the AAD, and the Skin Cancer Foundation have all been clear: skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.S., with more than 9,500 new cases diagnosed every day, and skipping sunscreen to avoid theoretical chemical exposure is the wrong trade.

For more, see the SPF explainer and the physical versus chemical sunscreen guide.