Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

December 17, 2024 - WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Monday, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) wrote a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert M. Califf, expressing concern over the agency’s call for manufacturers to test sunscreen ingredients on animals despite decades of human safety data supporting these products. The letter highlights the importance of ensuring access to sunscreens and that requesting animal tests to keep these products on the market undermines and jeopardizes the availability of products to prevent skin cancer in the United States.

“As you know, Congress passed the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 to allow the FDA to use data from non-animal test methods. The agency has an obligation to the public to reduce animal use in safety assessment and to apply the most reliable and human-relevant assessment strategies to evaluate sunscreens, including the use of existing safety data, ongoing clinical and consumer safety assessment, and non-animal test methods. The FDA’s own public materials indicate that there is no evidence that sunscreen active ingredients are unsafe,” Senator Booker wrote. 

Booker stated that sunscreen technology in the United States is significantly behind other countries like Japan, South Korea, and France. Additionally, the European Union bans animal testing of cosmetics, including sunscreen. 

Booker continued, “Animal testing should not be required when there are other pathways to demonstrate the safety of these products—pathways that have long been accepted in other countries.”

Senator Booker called on the FDA to provide detailed responses to numerous questions, including:

1. Does the FDA explicitly require manufacturers and/or ingredients suppliers to test existing and novel sunscreen ingredients on animals? 
2. What non-animal approaches would FDA recommend including in future proposals regarding the safety of existing and novel sunscreen active ingredients? 
3. Does the FDA plan to remove sunscreens from the market if they are not tested on animals? If yes, has the FDA considered the public health implication of removing sunscreens from the market, including the impact it would have on skin cancer rates?
4. What are the potential global implications of animal testing, including possible barriers to trade? 
5. Has FDA considered the sociological implications of only retaining mineral sunscreens on the market, which leave a white cast on the skin? 

To read the full text of the letter, click here.
Source: Senator Cory Booker