Why the 25-Year US Sunscreen Filter Drought Is a Skin Cancer Problem
Modern sunscreen filters have been stuck in regulatory limbo for a generation, and dermatology groups now frame fixing that as a fight against America's most common cancer.
Advocating for the SAFE Sunscreen Standards Act in 2025, the Skin Cancer Foundation cited that 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer by age 70, that more than two people die of skin cancer in the US every hour, and that over 5 million Americans are treated for skin cancer each year at a cost exceeding $8 billion.
The Skin Cancer Foundation frames the issue plainly: skin cancer is the most common cancer in the US, and giving Americans access to the broad-spectrum filters already used overseas is positioned as a preventive public-health step, not a beauty upgrade.
Questions we get a lot
Why hasn't the US approved a new sunscreen filter in so long?
New over-the-counter sunscreen filters in the US must clear the FDA's monograph safety-and-effectiveness process, which has not added a new active in about 25 years. Advocacy groups like The Skin Cancer Foundation argue the pathway is too rigid and have pushed 2025 legislation to modernize it. The goal is to give Americans access to filters already common abroad.
How common is skin cancer in the United States?
According to figures cited by The Skin Cancer Foundation, about 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer by age 70, and more than two people die of skin cancer in the US every hour. Over 5 million Americans are treated for skin cancer annually, at a cost exceeding $8 billion. Those numbers are central to why filter reform is framed as a public-health issue.
r/SkincareAddiction: 'Why does Europe and Korea have way better UV filters than the US? Is the FDA just slow?'