For 20 years, Americans have been slathering on sunscreen that does a fine job preventing sunburns but falls shockingly short on the kind of protection that actually prevents cancer.
That disconnect is finally getting addressed.
This week, the FDA approved bemotrizinol (also called BEMT or PARSOL Shield), the first new sunscreen ingredient cleared for use in the United States in more than two decades. The compound has been used safely in Europe, Asia, and Australia for decades, and its arrival on US store shelves marks a long overdue upgrade to a category that has essentially been frozen in time since the late 1990s.
Here's why that matters: American sunscreens are built around SPF, which primarily measures protection against UVB rays, the ones that cause visible sunburn. But UVA rays, which penetrate deeper into the skin and are linked to premature aging and skin cancer, are a different story.
Research from the Environmental Working Group found that US sunscreens deliver, on average, just 24% of the UVA protection their SPF labels suggest. Current chemical filters available in the US generally protect against either UVA or UVB, not both effectively.
Bemotrizinol is different. It is a broad-spectrum filter that covers UVA and UVB simultaneously, and it is photostable, meaning it does not break down in sunlight the way some existing chemical filters do.
It also has low levels of absorption into the skin, which addresses a concern that has lingered over other sunscreen chemicals for years.
"Bemotrizinol has been used safely in Europe for decades, and FDA's action will increase competition and consumer confidence in sunscreen products,"
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
The approval comes at a moment when consumer faith in sunscreen is flagging. About 3.3 million people in the US are diagnosed each year with basal and squamous cell carcinomas, and 1 in 5 will develop skin cancer by age 70.
Yet skepticism has been growing, fueled by concerns about chemical absorption and a "Make America Healthy Again" movement that has questioned the safety of many consumer products. Kennedy pledged in 2024 to fight what he called the FDA's "war on public health" and "aggressive suppression" of sunshine, and this approval matches a MAHA strategy report calling for modernization of sunscreen regulation that "has fallen behind other countries."
For people who have been ordering Korean and European sunscreens online just to get decent UVA protection, the shift is personal. The approval clears the way for sought-after South Korean sunscreen brands to be sold in the US by autumn, according to Carl D'Ruiz, a senior manager at DSM-Firmenich, the Swiss maker of sunscreen chemicals that applied for the FDA approval.
The texture benefits matter too. Bemotrizinol can be combined with zinc oxide to create formulas with strong broad-spectrum protection and less of that chalky white cast that turns people off mineral sunscreens.
D'Ruiz said he thinks the ingredient will change the dynamic around sunscreen entirely.
"People will talk more positively about sunscreens," he said.
DSM-Firmenich will have an 18-month market exclusivity period and is expected to begin selling bemotrizinol under the PARSOL Shield brand later this year. The first US products containing the ingredient are expected by the end of 2026.