Abstract

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the current scientific literature does not support the safety of organic sunscreen actives currently approved for use in the United States. Furthermore, the International Agency for Research on Cancer cannot find definitive proof that sunscreens prevent skin cancers. The concept that sunscreens prevent skin cancer is predicated on the observation that they inhibit the occurrence of sunburn and that one or two blistering sunburns can lead to skin cancer. Although the latter part of this statement may be true, the prevention statement is not and questions the efficaciousness of current sunscreen technologies in preventing melanoma and carcinomas period. We posit the thesis that current sunscreen technologies fail to protect against the threat of skin cancers when applied in common-occurrence situation(s). Therefore, before any local or global regulatory body approves old or new actives for human use, it is essential that 1) sunscreen actives demonstrate that they have the ability, alone or in combination, to sufficiently absorb/ block the entire ultraviolet spectrum, 2) validated models based on demonstrated toxicologic and exposure-delivery principles need to be developed to evaluate a product’s efficacy to inhibit keratinocyte cancers or melanoma, and 3) safety testing as outlined in the Food and Drug Administration’s Sunscreen Innovation Act of 2014 or similar tenets must be completed to assure human safety.

Keywords: Sunburn; Basal cell carcinoma; Melanoma; Dermal irritation