Sunscreen: Too harmful, the octocylene filter could soon be banned by the authorities

Finding a sunscreen that suits your skin type, as well as flora and fauna, is quite a challenge. And this could soon be relatively simplified given the latest report against octocrylene (a chemical UV filter), issued by the National Agency for Health Security (ANSES) published on May 26, 2023 and consulted on July 7 by franceinfo.

Why does ANSES want to (finally!) ban octocrylene from sunscreens?

In summary, this health authority has asked the French government to ban the use of octocrylene, as part of the ” range (a European regulation to ensure the production and use of chemicals in industry for the whole EU). Against this background, various tests are being carried out and evidence is accumulating against this organic filter, which has long been controversial. Octocrylene is already banned in the US Virgin Islands and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, due to its harmful effects on the environment, for marine life, including corals. According to a study reported by franceinfoconducted by CNRS and Sorbonne University, published in 2021 in the American medical journal Chemical research in toxicology, this ingredient would also have an endocrine disrupting and potentially carcinogenic effect.

At the moment, therefore, France wants this ban and is asking for it at a European level, but it is in Brussels that the situation is currently blocked. Meanwhile, it’s an ingredient that you can easily spot in the ingredient list of a sunscreen you’re about to buy since it’s called ” octocrilene “. Fortunately, there are many other organic and mineral filters that are much less controversial, which we talked about in the episode dedicated to sunglasses of the Raw Materials podcast, which deciphers their labels.

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