AOC Wants to Get Americans Access to Better Sunscreen

She spoke out about the barriers to making progress with modern ingredients on Instagram.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has made it known before that she’s a beauty girlie through and through (in addition, of course, to being a progressive political leader). And on Monday while traveling in Asia, the congresswoman took to Instagram Stories to speak on a subject of which plenty American skin-care obsessives are all too aware: Sun protection is absolutely crucial, and the United States lags painfully behind other countries in terms of access to modern sunscreen ingredients.

Once again, for the cheap seats in the back: Daily sunscreen is a skin-care essential (for everyone, regardless of skin tone!) that protects against cancer, sun damage and signs of premature aging. But in the U.S., sunscreen is classified as a drug and is therefore regulated by the FDA. In theory, this is a good thing that ensures quality, safe, effective formulas make it to market. But in practice, this means that only a handful of old-school active ingredients are FDA-approved for sun protection, and many of the more advanced formulas available in countries like Japan and South Korea aren’t available to U.S. consumers.

“Most of my friends know that I’m obsessed with sunscreen. It’s one of my favorite things to get while traveling!” Ocasio-Cortez wrote to her social media followers, adding that “the FDA is woefully behind (think many years) on approving new sunscreen ingredients,” and that “the rest of the world is literally decades ahead on sunscreen technology.”

Sure, it may not seem like the most pressing of legislative issues for our political leaders to be fixating on, but the U.S. Representative is calling out this issue that’s ultimately tied to the country’s health and legislation. It’s also been a trending topic among skin-care experts, some of whom are thrilled to see a politician addressing it.

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Social media skin-care guru and Dieux Skin CEO and co-founder Charlotte Palermino joined the discourse in an Instagram post, confirming that the country’s lack of sunscreen innovation is due to the way SPF is regulated. “We’re doing great with what we have access to but it could be so much better,” she said, adding that it’s been “over 20 years” since the FDA approved new filters.

Palermino explained that newer UV filters have better textures, cause less eye stinging, less white cast and are more flexible in formulating. So until the FDA updates its approved filters, we’ll be picking up AOC’s recommendations on our next trip overseas.

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Source: Fashionista.com