The Food and Drug Administration announced a proposal Thursday to make another sunscreen ingredient available to U.S. manufacturers.
\nThe ingredient \u2014 a UV light filter called bemotrizinol \u2014 has long been available in Europe, Australia and some Asian countries. On social media, skin care enthusiasts share their sunscreen hauls from abroad.
\n
\nSo, why all the hype around a sunscreen ingredient?<\/p>\n
UV filters do the job of blocking out harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. To be most effective, they need to be \u201cbroad-spectrum,\u201d meaning they block out both UVA and UVB rays.
\n\u201cThe \u2018B\u2019 is \u2018burning rays,\u2019 which causes sunburn. The \u2018A\u2019 is the \u2018aging ray,\u2019 which causes tanning reaction, wrinkle formation,\u201d said Dr. Henry Lim, former chair of dermatology at Henry Ford Health in Detroit and past president of the American Academy of Dermatology. Both, he added, contribute to skin cancer risk.<\/p>\n
There are two main types of UV filters used in sunscreens: chemical and mineral. Mineral sunscreens \u2014 which contain zinc oxide or titanium dioxide \u2014 can block both UVA and UVB rays, but often leave a white cast on the skin, making chemical filters generally more favorable to consumers.
\nThe chemical filter sunscreens available in the U.S., however, either protect against UVA or UVB. None of the chemical filters in the U.S. are broad-spectrum on their own. (Sunscreens will often contain a mix of chemical filters to cover both UVA and UVB.)
\nChemical sunscreens also break down in the sun, so they need to be regularly reapplied.<\/p>\n
Enter bemotrizinol. It\u2019s a broad-spectrum chemical sunscreen that\u2019s far more stable. \u201cIt would not degrade upon exposure to sunlight,\u201d Lim said.
\nAnother concern with other sunscreens is that some have shown the ability to seep into the bloodstream. (It remains unclear whether this is harmful.)
\nBemotrizinol \u201cdoes not penetrate the body surface and does not absorb into the bloodstream, so it has a good safety profile,\u201d said Dr. Steven Wang, chief of dermatology at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, California.
\nDr. Adam Friedman, a professor and the chair of dermatology at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., added that chemical UV filters \u201care irritating at baseline, let alone if someone has acne, rosacea, eczema \u2014 it\u2019s hard for people to be adherent to them because they sting.\u201d
\n\u201cIt does seem to be better tolerated,\u201d said Friedman of bemotrizinol, \u201cin comparison to other UV filters.\u201d
\n\u201cBemotrizinol will be a welcome addition to the U.S. sunscreen industry,\u201d Wang said.
\nIt will also be the first new UV filter in the U.S. in over 25 years.<\/p>\n
The FDA acknowledged that it has taken a long time to arrive at this point.
\n\u201cThe agency has historically moved too slowly in this area, leaving Americans with fewer options than consumers abroad,\u201d FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said in a press release.
\nOne of the main reasons is that in the U.S., sunscreen filter ingredients are classified as over-the-counter drugs, as opposed to cosmetics, meaning they require clinical trials to test for safety and effectiveness before they can be approved.
\n\u201cIn Europe, they\u2019re not looked at that way,\u201d Friedman said. \u201cThat\u2019s why they can come out with things much faster.\u201d
\nThe FDA said that a new sunscreen, like bemotrizinol, can be brought to market without an approved drug application if it meets certain requirements. To do so, the FDA must first make a proposal. The proposal must go through a public comment period before it issues the final order and adds bemotrizinol to its list of allowed sunscreen ingredients.
\nBen Nichols, an FDA spokesman, said the agency expects that the final order will come sometime next summer or fall and that sunscreen with bemotrizinol could be sold in the U.S. as early as late 2026.<\/p>\n
The proposal to add bemotrizinol to the list of approved sunscreen ingredients is a significant step forward for the U.S. sunscreen industry. With its broad-spectrum protection, stability, and good safety profile, bemotrizinol has the potential to provide better protection for consumers. The FDA\u2019s efforts to make this ingredient available to U.S. manufacturers are a welcome move, and it is expected that sunscreen with bemotrizinol will be available in the U.S. market soon.<\/p>\n
Q: What is bemotrizinol?
\nA: Bemotrizinol is a broad-spectrum chemical sunscreen that provides protection against both UVA and UVB rays.
\nQ: What are the benefits of bemotrizinol?
\nA: Bemotrizinol is more stable than other chemical sunscreens, does not penetrate the body surface, and has a good safety profile.
\nQ: When will sunscreen with bemotrizinol be available in the U.S.?
\nA: The FDA expects that sunscreen with bemotrizinol could be sold in the U.S. as early as late 2026.
\nQ: Why has it taken so long for bemotrizinol to be approved in the U.S.?
\nA: The FDA has historically moved slowly in approving new sunscreen ingredients, and the classification of sunscreen filter ingredients as over-the-counter drugs requires clinical trials to test for safety and effectiveness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FDA Proposes Adding New Sunscreen Ingredient Introduction to Bemotrizinol The Food and Drug Administration announced a proposal Thursday to make another sunscreen ingredient available to U.S. manufacturers. The ingredient \u2014 a UV light filter called bemotrizinol \u2014 has long been available in Europe, Australia and some Asian countries. On social media, skin care enthusiasts share […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/media.nbcchicago.com\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2204131081.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=1200%2C675&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33687,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33684\/revisions\/33687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}