Most people trust that the sunscreen they use on themselves and their families has been thoroughly tested and confirmed safe. The reality is more complicated - and it's a conversation worth having.

In 2019, the FDA found that only 2 out of 16 active sunscreen ingredients had enough safety data to be confirmed safe and effective. Seven years later, no final public action has been taken, and ingredients the FDA itself could not confirm to be safe remain in sunscreens sold nationwide. 

Also in 2019, an FDA-funded clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that oxybenzone, a common sunscreen ingredient, was absorbed into the bloodstream at levels more than 400 times the FDA's threshold for requiring additional safety testing. 

Several of these same chemical UV filters have since been banned from marine environments in places like Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Palau due to documented harm to coral reefs and ocean ecosystems. Ingredients deemed harmful for the ocean but approved for daily use on human skin.

The FDA's sunscreen ingredient safety standards have not been meaningfully updated since 1999. This isn't about fear. It's about transparency. American families deserve to know that the products they rely on have been evaluated using current science.

We are asking the FDA to:

• Fund and publish independent, long-term safety studies on the sunscreen ingredients currently lacking sufficient data, with particular attention to systemic absorption, endocrine disruption, carcinogenic impact, and effects on children.
• Establish a regular review cycle for sunscreen ingredient safety standards - no longer than every five years - so that regulations reflect current science.

Safe, effective sunscreen with proven ingredients already exists. Consumers shouldn't have to sacrifice ingredient safety for sun protection. 

This petition is asking the FDA to complete the work it started, hold manufacturers accountable, and give American families the transparency they deserve.

Started by Bethany McDaniel, founder of Primally Pure