In her time in national politics, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), or AOC, has been synonymous with several issues, from income inequality to Medicare for All to voting rights.
But now, the New York Congressman has taken up an issue less often discussed in the political realm: Sunscreen.
AOC Has Thoughts
AOC appeared on an Instagram video last week with Dieux Skincare founder Charlotte Palermino. On it, she discussed a recent visit to South Korea, where better sunscreens are available.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Palermo talked about how U.S. sunscreens are regulated as a drug, rather than as a cosmetic, by the FDA.
“US sunscreens are far behind the rest of the world and our regulations aren’t necessarily making our sunscreens better or safer — but it doesn’t have to be this way!” AOC said in the caption for the video. “Contact your member of Congress, especially if your member of Congress sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee they have jurisdiction over the FDA.”
The New York Times later wrote about the issue, noting that sunscreen policy in the U.S. is “stuck in the ‘90s,” as that was the last time the FDA approved new active ingredients for use in sunscreen products. The Times also pointed out that AOC’s Instagram video was far from a novel use of social media, as influencers on Instagram and TikTok, in the skincare sphere, frequently praise sunscreens not available in the U.S.
“The technology is very sophisticated,” AOC told the Times, in reference to the South Korea-made sunscreens she has opted to use. “You don’t feel like you have a layer of sunscreen on, and it kind of just feels like you’re putting on a moisturizer in that sense, which makes it easier to use.”
Why hasn’t the FDA acted to approve better sunscreens?
“I think the assessment here is that Americans need sunscreen, and they have sunscreen,” Ocasio-Cortez told the newspaper. “Are there other avenues that we can use in order to kind of break through this standstill? Yeah.”
President Barack Obama, in 2014, signed a piece of legislation called The Sunscreen Innovation Act, while the CARES Act, in the early days of the COVID pandemic, had changed how over-the-counter drugs are approved. But those moves have only done things like ask for more information, without moving anything toward approval.
The FDA said in a statement to the Times that the agency is working to “facilitate the marketing of sunscreen products that include additional over-the-counter sunscreen active ingredients” and that “to do so, the F.D.A. relies on industry to submit the data needed to make safety and effectiveness determinations for these ingredients.”
It will, however, be up to Congress to move on the issue, Ocasio-Cortez told the Times, although this is a rare issue that may not break down so easily along partisan lines.
Meanwhile, AOC’s push on the sunscreen issue has earned her praise from a corner that doesn’t often have nice things to say about the Congresswoman- the libertarian media outlet Reason magazine.
“On this one issue, the democratic socialist sounds a lot like a libertarian,” writer Robby Soave wrote. The CATO Institute, another libertarian organ, has spoken out on the issue as well.
AOC protesting Roe v. Wade. Image Credit: Screenshot.
“If the FDA won’t clear more sunscreen ingredients for use in the U.S., the agency should at the very least allow reciprocity: Foreign sunscreens could be made available with warning labels noting that they were approved by European health officials but not by the FDA,” Soave writes. “Of course, the best option would be for U.S. regulators to simply get out of the way and acknowledge that these products are obviously safe for human use. Indeed, not approving them is the greater danger, since using sunscreen is one of the best ways to prevent skin cancer.”
Author Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
From the Vault
‘You Really Oughta Go Home’: F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighter Flew Under F-4 From Iran
