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Update (October 1, 2025): Even though more than 70,000 supporters like you have spoken up and several scientific studies have shown how sunscreens can be checked for safety without animal tests, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still expects sunscreen manufacturers to test on animals.
Four scientific papers recently published show how commonly used sunscreen ingredients can be checked for safety using existing info and non-animal approaches. Decades of animal tests haven’t found any indication that more animal testing will accomplish anything other than costing thousands of animals their lives. This is clear to every government agency around the world—except the FDA.
The FDA just put out a troubling new statement that shows how misaligned the agency is with the current scientific consensus on sunscreen safety. The statement indicates that the FDA supports moving away from animal tests and mentions some animal tests that the FDA doesn’t require. However, what the statement doesn’t say speaks volumes—FDA doesn’t clarify what it does expect for the animal tests it has repeatedly indicated are required.
In other words, the FDA only reinforces its expectation for tests on animals through this statement that doesn’t suggest otherwise. Its call to come up with alternatives to animal testing rings hollow in light of the agency’s public records showing it rejecting animal-replacing proposals. Time and time again, the FDA has failed to take part in making use of human-relevant strategies for checking sunscreen safety.
It’s time for the FDA to stop ignoring the mountains of existing data and requests from experts to talk about non-animal approaches that can be used now. The path forward is clear, and it doesn’t involve cruel and ineffective animal tests.
Please TAKE ACTION below to ask the FDA to move beyond vague promises and start taking meaningful action to adopt the advanced non-animal approaches offered by experts.
Original publication:
For decades, sunscreens have been used by millions of people around the world to prevent skin cancer. (ICYDK, slathering it on can literally save your life.) 😎 🧴 But now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is pushing companies to conduct animal tests to keep their sunscreen products on the market. 😡
© Doctors Against Animal Experiments
The FDA has said several times that it supports modern testing methods relevant to human health, yet it has refused to allow the use of non-animal testing approaches. Conducting sunscreen product tests on animals is unnecessary, and governments around the world agree that evidence from decades of info gathered from humans who’ve used sunscreen products already shows that these items are safe to use. 🤦 Performing more tests on animals doesn’t make sense—there are better, more scientifically relevant strategies that can be used to assess these products.
In his letter asking the FDA to explain itself, Senator Cory Booker notes that “the agency has an obligation to the public to reduce animal use” when even the FDA admits that there is no evidence that sunscreens are unsafe.
Learn more by listening to PETA’s podcast about testing sunscreen products on animals.
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What You Can Do
Many caring consumers have pledged not to use products tested on animals, and many companies have pledged not to test on animals. Don’t let the FDA force companies to abandon good science.
Please contact the FDA to show support for animal-free science that keeps sunscreen on the shelves!