What Is Bemotrizinol? The Sunscreen Filter the FDA Added to the US List

Bemotrizinol is a UV filter, the active ingredient in a sunscreen that stops ultraviolet light before it reaches your skin. It absorbs both UVB, the rays behind sunburn, and UVA, the rays linked to skin aging, and it stays stable in sunlight. Sunscreens in Europe, Australia and Asia have used it for more than two decades, often under the trade name Tinosorb S. The FDA has now added it to the list of active ingredients allowed in over-the-counter sunscreens in the United States, at concentrations up to 6 percent. For shoppers, that’s one more name to look for on the Drug Facts panel, and it’s already in a couple of drugstore bottles. It doesn’t make the sunscreen you own obsolete.

A UV filter is the part of sunscreen that does the work

Every sunscreen has active ingredients and inactive ones. The actives are the UV filters. Everything else, the water, oils and texture ingredients, is there to carry the filters and make the product pleasant to wear.

Filters come in two families. Mineral filters are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Chemical filters, which chemists call organic filters, are carbon-based molecules such as avobenzone and octisalate that absorb UV energy. Bemotrizinol belongs to the second family. Our guide to chemical versus mineral sunscreen covers how the two feel and wear.

Two label terms tell you what the filters in a bottle add up to. SPF mostly measures protection against UVB. “Broad spectrum” means the product also passed a test for UVA. A filter that covers both, as bemotrizinol does, gives a formulator a simpler route to that second claim.

What the order says

In the United States, sunscreen is regulated as a nonprescription drug. The rulebook is a document called a monograph, which lists the active ingredients a company may use without filing a separate drug application for each product. If an ingredient isn’t on the list, a brand can’t simply put it in a bottle and sell it here.

The order adds bemotrizinol to that list. The notice ran in the Federal Register on June 10, 2026, and its terms are short:

The order also sets rules on which other active ingredients bemotrizinol may be combined with. The process was ordinary: the company filed a request, the agency proposed the change, took public comments, and finalized it without changes.

Why the American list was so short

Classification. Because sunscreen is a drug here, each filter has to clear a drug-level safety and effectiveness review. Some other countries regulate sunscreen as a cosmetic, which is a faster road. European rules allow more than 30 filters. The American list has 16 names on it, and it traces back to a 1999 version of the monograph.

Not all 16 are in common use, either. The agency has proposed that only zinc oxide and titanium dioxide have enough data behind them to be called safe and effective, and it asked manufacturers for more safety data on 12 others, including avobenzone, homosalate and octocrylene. It was careful to say that request isn’t a finding that those ingredients are unsafe. It’s a request for modern evidence on products people now wear daily for decades.

So for years, American formulators worked from an old, short list while brands abroad had more to choose from. That gap is a big part of why people import Korean sunscreen. A group of University of Pennsylvania dermatologists, writing in JAAD International, called bemotrizinol the first filter added to the US monograph since 1999.

What bemotrizinol does that older filters don’t

Three things come up in the research.

It covers UVA and UVB in one molecule. A review in the journal Photodermatology, Photoimmunology & Photomedicine, written by two authors at Rocky Vista University and published in 2025, describes it as a broad-spectrum filter that absorbs in both ranges.

It holds up in the sun. Some filters break down as they absorb UV, which can weaken a sunscreen’s protection. Avobenzone, the main non-mineral UVA filter in American sunscreens, is the well-known example. The Penn dermatologists describe bemotrizinol as staying stable after UV exposure and call that its defining advantage.

Very little seems to get into the bloodstream. The same review describes it as a large molecule that tends to sit on top of the skin. In a pilot trial run by its manufacturer, volunteers applied a 6 percent formula at the maximum amount a person would use. Blood levels rarely went above the threshold regulators use to decide whether a filter needs further safety studies, and the researchers saw no sign of it building up. Side effects were few and mostly mild.

What this research can’t tell you

That absorption trial was a pilot, it was open-label (everyone knew what they were putting on), and it was paid for and written up by DSM, which sells the ingredient. It measured what reaches the blood. It didn’t measure sunburn, skin cancer or aging. The review is a summary of other people’s work, written to argue for updating American rules.

Nobody has shown that a sunscreen with bemotrizinol prevents more skin cancer than one without it. The dermatologists who welcomed the change said as much: no single filter will move cancer rates by itself, and the likely benefit is that nicer-feeling sunscreen gets worn more often.

It can also cause reactions, like any filter. Dermatology journals have published case reports of contact allergy to it. Stop using any sunscreen that gives you a rash, and see a dermatologist if it doesn’t clear. If you’re pregnant, or choosing a sunscreen for a baby or young child, ask your doctor or pediatrician what they’d use.

How to spot it on a label

Turn the bottle over. Under “Active ingredients” in the Drug Facts box, you’ll see the word bemotrizinol and a percentage of 6 or less. Brands shorten it to BEMT on the front. On sunscreens made for other countries, the same ingredient is listed as bis-ethylhexyloxyphenol methoxyphenyl triazine, or by the trade names Tinosorb S and Parsol Shield.

Two cautions. Don’t go by a product title alone. Check for a real Drug Facts box, and buy from the brand or a retailer you trust. And the percentage isn’t a score. SPF and “broad spectrum” are the tested claims. Bemotrizinol at 6 percent in a sunscreen you hate wearing protects you less than SPF 30 you put on every morning.

Sunscreens to buy, with and without it

The selection of American sunscreens with bemotrizinol is still small, and each company sets its own timing, so the shelf will fill in unevenly. Two are easy to buy. The other three picks are broad-spectrum sunscreens without it, for the jobs those two don’t cover.

Prices move constantly, so we link to live listings instead of printing a number that is wrong by the time you read it. Links go to Amazon, which is where a referral gets credited.

Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Daily Face Sunscreen SPF 70 with BEMT is about $17, though the price changes often. Its actives are bemotrizinol at 6 percent, the most the order allows, with avobenzone 3 percent, homosalate 15 percent and octisalate 5 percent. It’s a 1.4-ounce broad-spectrum lotion with a peptide and vitamin E in the base. Neutrogena says it blends to an invisible finish. It isn’t labeled water resistant, so it’s a daily-wear sunscreen, not a beach one.

Neutrogena Clear Face Sunscreen Acne-Prone Skin SPF 60 with BEMT has the same four filters at the same percentages, in a base with niacinamide. Neutrogena says it won’t clog pores. Same size, same price, and also not water resistant. Pick between the two by skin type.

CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30 Face is for anyone who wants to skip chemical filters altogether. Its only actives are titanium dioxide 6 percent and zinc oxide 5 percent, and it’s fragrance-free, with ceramides and niacinamide. Mineral formulas can leave a white cast, most visibly on medium and deep skin.

La Roche-Posay Anthelios Melt-In Milk SPF 60 fills the gap the Neutrogena pair leaves: it’s water resistant for 80 minutes and comes in a 5-ounce tube, enough to cover a body. Take this one to the pool.

EltaMD UV Clear SPF 46 pairs zinc oxide 9 percent with octinoxate 7.5 percent, plus niacinamide. It’s the most expensive pick here, and it’s made for acne-prone skin. More options are in our face sunscreen guide.

If I Were You

If you already wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen you like, keep wearing it. Finish the bottle. Nothing about this order makes it worse.

If you’ve been importing sunscreen for the filters, try one of the Neutrogena bottles. It puts this filter in a product made and labeled for the American market, at a drugstore price.

If you skip sunscreen because it feels heavy or greasy, this is a good moment to try again. Start with the Ultra Sheer, or the Clear Face if you break out.

If you need sunscreen for swimming or sweating, buy a water-resistant one. Neither bemotrizinol pick here is.

If your skin reacts to chemical filters, bemotrizinol is one too. Stay with a mineral formula such as the CeraVe, and if white cast is the problem, our sunscreens for deep skin tones has tinted options.

Bottom line

Bemotrizinol is a stable, broad-coverage UV filter that the rest of the world has used for years, and American brands can now use it at up to 6 percent. It’s a good addition and worth trying if you’ve never found a sunscreen you like. It isn’t a reason to throw anything away. The sunscreen that protects you is still the broad-spectrum one you put on every day and reapply. There’s more in our skin care archive.