Use of Newly Approved Sunscreen Ingredient Will Cost Brands Their Cruelty-Free Status, PETA Warns

For Immediate Release:
October 15, 2026

Contact:
Sydney Rader 202-483-7382

Today, PETA alerts beauty brands looking to maintain their seal of approval on PETA’s Ultimate Cruelty-Free List to steer clear of the newly approved sunscreen ingredient bemotrizinol (BEMT), because cruel and archaic tests on mini pigs, guinea pigs, rabbits, mice, and rats were required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before the ingredient was allowed onto the U.S. market.

BEMT has been safely used in Europe and elsewhere for decades, but the FDA refused to rely on the wealth of existing human data and demanded additional animal testing—even though the findings from experiments on animals frequently fail to translate to humans.

The tests included force-feeding BEMT to animals, smearing it on their skin, and putting it in their eyes in carcinogenicity, developmental and reproductive toxicity, oral and dermal toxicokinetic, and hormonal effects tests. Some lasted as long as nine months.

“Despite decades of real-world human use, animals were subjected to painful, pointless tests to clear BEMT’s path into the U.S., and any company that chooses to use it will be removed from our cruelty-free list,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA is putting companies on notice and urging consumers to consult PETA’s Ultimate Cruelty-Free List when they shop.”

To be included on PETA’s cruelty-free list, companies must not conduct or commission tests on animals and must purchase ingredients from suppliers who don’t test those ingredients on animals.

In 2025, PETA alerted all companies and brands on its cruelty-free list that the FDA announced requirements for tests on animals for other active chemical sunscreen ingredients. So far, this testing has not been mandated, but it remains a threat. Congress has since passed legislation requiring the FDA to consider and allow non-animal testing and real-world evidence when evaluating sunscreens and other topical over-the-counter drugs, and to develop guidance on their use.

More than 62,000 PETA supporters have urged the FDA to swiftly implement the new law and adopt the human-relevant, non-animal approaches offered by experts to evaluate sunscreens.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.