Industry Debate: US FDA vs. Sunscreens

By: Cosmetics & Toiletries LinkedIn Members

Posted: June 7, 2011

During last month’s NYSCC Suppliers' Day, several attendees expressed frustration regarding the continuous delay of the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Final Sunscreen Monograph. Cosmetics & Toiletries asked its LinkedIn members to comment regarding this delay. Here’s what the market had to say.

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Question: What is your reaction to the delay of the US FDA's Sunscreen Monograph? How is it affecting your work and how it is affecting sun protection in the United States?

Answer 1: The classification of sunscreens as over-the-counter (OTC) drugs may be the basic problem. However, in my opinion, the delay leaves room to resolve difficulties. In this case, an imperfect decision may be better than no decision since there is always the opportunity to revise and amend the text. It may be that the delay is due to the Safe Cosmetics Act in discussion, but on the other side, this gives strength to groups asking for stricter regulations on cosmetics. Is there any known (reasonable) reason why the FDA is delaying?

 Answer 2: My reaction? As a fair-skinned father and husband, I have been purchasing European formulations of a product marketed by a certain L'Oréal subsidiary for our family for several years. There is now on the USA market a "half-full" version of this product; if you follow sunscreen chemistry, you will see what I mean by this. Of course, it's not just what we do, in survival mode, for ourselves and our families, but what we should do as cosmetics professionals for our fellow human beings, and what we should do as chemists in the employ of personal care enterprises. I'll tell you this: At every opportunity, I let people know that sunlight (beyond the minutes of daily exposure needed for sterol synthesis) damages skin; that suntans should be relegated to their former image of forced labor in the fields; and that governments that drag their feet while a melanoma epidemic is in progress should be replaced at the ballot box.