WebMD Health - Skin Problems and Treatments  Critics Want FDA to
OK New Sunscreen Ingredients  Posted: Jun 3, 2014 10:16 PM
Source: WebMD  Bookmark and Share  0.0 (0 votes)  June 3, 2014
-- Some patients of Manhattan dermatologist Darrell Rigel, MD,
return from trips abroad with a rather unusual souvenir:
sunscreen.  Rigel's patients can't buy similar products in the
United States because they contain sun-filtering compounds --
classified as over-the-counter drugs in the United States and
Canada but cosmetics elsewhere. These compounds don't yet have
FDA approval, even though in some cases they've been used for
decades in other countries.  "There's no good reason why the FDA
hasn't approved these," says Rigel, a past president of the
American Academy of Dermatology and a clinical professor at NYU
Langone Medical Center.  "As a physician, it's frustrating to me
that we can't seem to get an answer about when the FDA will
approve these ingredients that have already been proven safe in
Europe."  The eight sun fil