05/05/2026
Today I’m on Capitol Hill, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
I was honored to be invited by the Personal Care Products Council to help lobby Congress in support of a critical public health issue: ensuring the FDA fully implements the provisions of the SAFE Sunscreen Standards Act, included in last year’s reauthorization of the Over-the-Counter Monograph Drug User Fee Amendments, or OMUFA.
Here’s why this matters:
Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. More people are diagnosed with skin cancer each year than all other cancers combined. Nearly five million Americans are treated for it annually, at a cost exceeding $8.1 billion. As a board-certified dermatologist and Mohs surgeon, I see this reality in my practice every single day, in the scars, in the fear, and in the lives changed forever.
And yet, the FDA has not approved a new UV filter since 1999.
While patients in Korea, Japan, and Europe have had access to safer, more effective, more photostable UV filters for decades, American consumers have been left behind. Not because the science isn’t there, but because our regulatory pathway hasn’t kept pace with it.
Last year, Congress took a meaningful step forward. OMUFA reauthorization included legislative language to allow the FDA to use a wider variety of evidence when evaluating new UV filters. Now, the House Appropriations Committee’s FY2027 FDA budget includes report language that would direct the FDA to expeditiously finalize its proposed order and implement these long-overdue provisions.
Today, I’m here to make sure that language stays in the bill.
This is exactly where my background in health policy intersects with my work as a physician, and I am deeply grateful to , , and for their leadership on this issue.
Better sunscreen access = better compliance = fewer skin cancers. The science is clear. Now we need the policy to catch up.
Eight meetings. Two Senate office buildings. Two House office buildings. One mission.
