A new study funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shows that six active ingredients common in chemical sunscreens are absorbed into the bloodstream after just one use, and that concentrations of each ingredient found in plasma continued to increase with continued daily use over time.
The study, Effect of Sunscreen Application on Plasma Concentration of Sunscreen Active Ingredients, was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The clinical trial, a follow-up to a prior study published in May, involved a larger number of people, more ingredients and more sunscreen formats, including lotions, aerosol and non-aerosol sprays and pump sprays.
The results of the study confirmed the FDA’s 2019 findings that avobenzone, oxybenzone and octocrylene are all absorbed into the bloodstream and will require further safety testing before being considered GRASE — generally recognized as safe and effective. While confirming the last study’s result, this new study added three more to the list of sunscreen ingredients that concentrate in the bloodstream at levels that require them to undergo further testing. These ingredients are homosalate, octisalate, and octinoxate.
While acknowledging that these ingredients will need to undergo further testing before being officially recognized as safe, the FDA has stressed that

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