Why You Need to Reconsider That Sunscreen You’re Using

Even if you buy a European brand from an America drugstore, it might not be as good as its international counterpart. National regulations for ingredients and effectiveness vary across the globe, causing products manufactured in other countries to be different, even if they’re from the same brand.

While Congress enacted the Sunscreen Innovation Act in 2014 to modernize and streamline sunscreen ingredient approval in the United States, American products still seem to lag behind.

Sadly, this often means our sunscreens tend to be greasier, less pleasant to put on and wear, and potentially less good at protecting our skin and preventing signs of aging. So what’s the difference between the sunscreen you buy in Tallahassee and the one you ordered from Tokyo? Let’s take a closer look.

Other countries are way ahead in quality

There’s not a simple reason that places like England, France, Japan, South Korea, and other countries have better sunblock products. It comes down to a combination of three large factors.

1. American sunscreens work with fewer (and “older”) ingredients

At the moment, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has only approved 16 active ingredients for sunscreens. Europe has 27 approved substances. Not only does this difference limit the range of products in the United States, it can also impact effectiveness.

There are seven approved chemicals in Europe that protect against cancer-causing UVA light rays. Meanwhile in the United States, we’ve only got three approved chemicals for the same purpose.

Europe has 7 approved substances for UVA ray protection, while the United States only has 3.

Sunscreen manufacturers in the United States have limited ingredients because we treat sunblocks as over-the-counter medical products. Every active ingredient used in the United States must pass a rigorous process through the FDA before we can use them, which is great for our health, but also a reason things are moving so slowly.

Just look: The Sunscreen Innovation Act was enacted three years ago, but no new ingredients have passed the medical trials since, according to the FDA. Even when the research checks out, trials can also be expensive. So if there’s no demand or financial benefit to developing new products, there’s no incentive to create newer and better products.

On the other hand, other countries treat sunscreen products as cosmetics. Although the ingredients go through different testing processes, other countries’ regulations allow for faster approvals as well as the ability for companies to combine ingredients without restriction. As a result, these brands offer more options that don’t just protect your skin, but they’re also much nicer to apply.

2. The FDA has lax regulations for UVA protection

Just when you thought the FDA was slow to introduce new ingredients, they’re also not that strict about the amount of UVA protection required. A recent study found that many of the American sunscreen products labeled as “broad spectrum” block UVB rays but don’t block UVA rays as effectively as European brands do. UVA penetrates the skin more deeply than UVB.

In fact, the study, which comes from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, found that only 11 out of 20 American sunscreen products met European standards of protection.

Only 11 out of 20 American sunscreen products met European standards of protection.

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3. The culture of tanning in the United States

A third reason our sunblock might lag behind the rest of the world’s is simply because Americans are still not as serious about sun protection as other cultures are. Despite extensive findings that UV exposure contributes to skin cancer, about 10 million American men and women regularly use tanning beds. Tanning, in many ways, is part pastime, part sign of luxury, and part identity.

Skin cancer: Get the facts »

Even with evidence that sun exposure suppresses the immune system, accelerates aging, and raises the risk of cancer, changing a culture can be difficult. When consumers don’t demand something, it affects the market and its interest in innovation. Here’s where Asian cultures, such as in Japan, China, Korea, and the Philippines, differ. These cultures are similarly enamored with pale skin, which contributes to their wide range of high-quality sunscreen products. Because the market is so competitive, the products are not only better, but cheaper as well.