The Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters this month to five companies that sell sunscreen mousses and foams.
The agency wrote a message on X to “beware” of these novel products, stating they may not be effective. The F.D.A. allows companies to market sunscreens in a number of forms — including sticks, sprays, powders, oils, gels, ointments, even butters — but not foams or mousses, which have gone viral for their whipped-cream-like consistency.
“The F.D.A. has a very tight definition of what they allow to be marketed as sunscreens,” said Dr. Ahmad Amin, a dermatologist at Northwestern Medicine.
The warning letters went to the popular sunscreen brand Supergoop, as well as to K & Care Organics, Vacation Inc., Kalani Sunwear and Fallien Cosmeceuticals. The agency wrote that these companies did not comply with the F.D.A.’s requirements and advertised their foams and mousses as products that protected people against the sun or prevented sunburns. A spokesman for the agency said the F.D.A. had not received data showing sunscreen mousses were safe or effective.
This doesn’t necessarily mean foam and mousse sunscreens don’t work, said Dr. Ida Orengo, the chair of the dermatology department at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. The agency has just not yet determined if the products meet its regulatory standards.
Because the products are relatively new, doctors emphasized that they did not know for sure whether they were effective or ineffective. The airy consistency might draw in consumers, said Dr. Megha Tollefson, a dermatologist at the Mayo Clinic, but it’s possible that because the formula is so lightweight, it may not fully protect against ultraviolet radiation.
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The post F.D.A. Targets Mousse and Foam Sunscreens appeared first on New York Times.
