Regulator urges extra safeguards for sunscreen ingredients amid SPF concerns
Companies that produce sunscreens containing the ingredients homosalate and oxybenzone, as well as benzophenone – a by-product produced as some sunscreens degrade – may be forced to reformulate their products after the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said sunscreens must 'meet the highest standards of safety for prolonged and frequent use'.
However, the TGA – the regulator responsible for the sale of sunscreen and medicines – said that the recommendations do not mean current Australian sunscreens containing those ingredients are unsafe.
'All sunscreens available in Australia are safe. The TGA is not recommending a change in the use of sunscreens, nor are there any warnings, bans or recalls of any products,' it said.
The review found that of the seven active sunscreen ingredients tested, homosalate and oxybenzone were at a lower margin of safety when using the highest-estimated sunscreen exposure for application.
'Based on the data considered in this safety review, the TGA recommends regulatory controls for homosalate and oxybenzone to restrict their permitted concentrations and use in therapeutic sunscreens,' it said in a statement.
The main adverse health concern is that the ingredients can potentially act as endocrine disruptors (chemicals that interfere with the body's hormones), however the TGA says available scientific data is not yet 'adequate to derive a conclusion as to their causality in humans'.
Cosmetic chemist Dr Michelle Wong reinforced the regulators' message to consumers to continue using current sunscreens at home, saying that the review aims to make already safe sunscreens safer.
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