JEROME LABILLE
Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, INRAe, Coll France, CEREGE, Aix-en-Provence, France

Abstract

The potential risk associated to UV filters used in sunscreen is a concern for both the consumer and the environmental health. However, these two issues are each related to different factors that determine the actual respective risk. Risk assessment must account for both the UV filter exposure and hazard in the given medium, two aspects that might be contrasted depending on whether one considers the consumer’s body or an environmental compartment. This opinion article discusses the key points that should be considered when assessing these risks.

INTRODUCTION
While the usage of sunscreen must remain a health priority to protect against skin damages from sunlight, consumers are bombarded with alarmist information on the possible risk associated to the UV-filters incorporated in sunscreen products. In the current context of global changes where the multiple impacts of anthropic activities on the environment are of rising concern, the case of sunscreens has indeed come into consideration. Consumers are now wary of spreading products containing these substances on their skin, as they question the benefit-risk ratio of the product not only for their own health but also for that of the environment. In order to respect these new priorities, sunscreen formulation must be thought so as to minimize its negative impacts on both the consumer and the environment. This can be proposed in a safer-by-design approach, where each development stage of the sunscreen is considered, from the choice of the UV-filter to integrate into a cosmetic formulation, to the knowledge of the risk involved in this choice all along the product lifecycle (1).

Let us remind that the risk posed by a substance is ...