New sunscreen breakthrough hits U.S. for the first time in decades

Don't forget to reapply a sunscreen ingredient used in Europe for decades is now FDA approved to be used in the U.S. The agency says it is safe for adults and children six months and older. Joining me now to talk about this advancement is Dr. Beth Bookbinder. She's the co-clinical director of the Center for Melanoma at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute. Dr. Bookbinder, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. First tell us about this ingredient and why is this so significant? Why is this a significant development in the fight against skin cancer? Yeah so this is really exciting because it's a larger molecule so it won't get absorbed into the blood. So as a result we think that it's safer and so far for a long time we really just had the mineral sunscreens, the zincs, the things that we think of as the creams and the thick pasty white paste that you often see in sunscreens or the chemical sunscreens like avobenzone that get absorbed into the blood and we worry a little about exactly what's happening when that when they are in the blood since it hasn't been as tested. So this is one of the first times in decades that a new sunscreen ingredient has been introduced into the U.S. which is really exciting. Definitely. Why has it taken so long to become available here in the U.S. and what should we know about its safety? Yeah so the U.S. the FDA regulates sunscreens as if they're an over-the-counter medication while in Europe they're a cosmetic and so as a result there's a much more rigorous process that these ingredients have to go through in the U.S. So it took a lot longer for this to get approved here but it has really gone through those steps and been proven to be safe which is really encouraging. How could it help encourage more Americans to wear sunscreen regularly? I know we say it all the time wear your sunscreen but you know some people don't always take heed to that. Yeah so I think when you're faced with some of the choices that wet you know wet white chalky stuff that gets all over clothes and everywhere versus that question of these more chemical sunscreens often we're stuck we don't you know don't want to have to be lathered in greasy stuff and so this will really give another option that hopefully more people will want to put on where people will be willing to use which will really encourage people to protect themselves against those harmful rays that can cause skin cancer. Definitely looking forward to seeing what it looks like all right Dr. Beth Bookbinder thanks so much for your time. Thanks for having me.