The Indicator from Planet Money
The Indicator from Planet Money

Why doesn't the US have better sunscreen?

July 20, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In 2018, Charlotte Palermino, a skincare influencer and founder of the clinical brand Due, walked into a specialty shop and tried a Japanese sunscreen called Biore UV Aqua Rich. The experience was a revelation. "I remember putting it on my face and being like, 'What is this?'" she recalls. "It has a beautiful cooling watery effect." That moment taught her something strange: the United States simply does not have great sunscreens. Unlike the rest of the world, the FDA has not approved a new active sunscreen ingredient for broad use since the late 1990s. The result is a country where sunscreen is gloopier, stickier, and less effective—discouraging people from using it at a time when more than five million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed each year.

Why the US froze sunscreen innovation

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:06) **The Problem: US Sunscreen is Sticky and Outdated** - Skincare influencer Charlotte Pelavino discovers Japanese sunscreen in 2018 and realizes the US hasn't approved a new active sunscreen ingredient since the 1990s, leaving American sunscreens gloopier and potentially less effective.
  • 2 (02:55) **Personal Skincare Habits (and a Roast)** - The hosts ask Charlotte for advice; a discussion of daily sunscreen use leads to a lighthearted critique of the host's lack of a face-washing routine.
  • 3 (03:55) **Charlotte's Grassroots Advocacy** - After learning about the regulatory lag, Charlotte called her representatives, made online resources, and began lobbying for change.
  • 4 (04:48) **The Long, Expensive Fight for One Ingredient** - A Swiss-Dutch company, DSM-Firmenich, spent at least $18 million and many years trying to get its globally-used ingredient, bemotrizinol, approved by the FDA.
  • 5 (05:52) **Legislative Progress: The CARES Act and a 2025 Law** - The 2020 CARES Act created a streamlined pathway for sunscreen approval, but it took years for results. A 2024/2025 law then allowed broader types of safety and efficacy evidence.
  • 6 (06:47) **Breakthrough: First New Ingredient in ~30 Years** - In June 2025, bemotrizinol was finally approved for use in the US, marking the first broadly used new active sunscreen ingredient in about three decades.
  • 7 (07:01) **The Economist's Critique: Deadly Precaution** - Economist Alex Tabarrok argues the FDA is overly risk-averse, and this "deadly precaution" actually makes people less safe by delaying access to cancer-preventing products.

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Guests on this episode

Alex Tabarrok

Show Notes

Why has the Food and Drug Administration taken so long to approve new sunscreens? Unlike the rest of the world, the FDA only just approved its first new ingredient in nearly three decades. We learn about a proposal to speed up drug and sunscreen innovation, and a skincare influencer who lobbied for change. 

Fact checking by Sierra Juarez.  

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