As someone who buys Asian sunscreen from questionable sellers on a site that shall not be named, I am happy to share with you that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is addressing one of the more annoying aspects of living in America: our crappy, outdated, comparatively ineffectual sunscreen. Naturally, because she is a woman in power, this has become a hot-button issue because women can never win in the patriarchy. Our lived experiences (and the Barbie movie) taught us that.
First and foremost, American sunscreen sucks. The reason it sucks so badly is that it is classified as an over-the-counter drug and, as such, regulated by the FDA. This results in many hoops for manufacturers to jump through to get their product approved, and as a result, it leads to stagnation in product innovation. It’s not like you can just release a new formula once you formulated it; you have to jump through regulatory hoops each time you want to update or change a formula. Sunscreen manufacturers outside of the US do not have to do that. If this doesn’t seem like a big deal to you, that is the incorrect outlook to take. The skin is the largest organ in the human body, and sunscreen protects it from damage—like literally burning!—and prevents cancer.
Ocasio-Cortez would like the regulations around sunscreen to change. Per The Guardian:
Ocasio-Cortez said that the Food and Drug Administration’s regulations on sunscreen, which haven’t been updated since 1999, are needlessly blocking Americans’ access to higher-performance UV filters that can be found in other countries. “It’s not too corny – please contact your member of Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez instructed her viewers. “Ask them to break through some of the regulatory barriers at the FDA.”
The idea isn’t particularly controversial among skincare experts. For years dermatologists have pointed out the advanced ingredients in non-US sun creams would provide better cancer protection than the ingredients that are allowed in the US.
Better cancer protections! Better sunscreen! Who could be mad about that?!
People who are looking for reasons to be mad at anything, that’s who. Apparently, skincare, and AOC by default, is seen as “soccer-mom consumerism” to some on the far left instead of a real-working class issue. This is because AOC dared to spread her message via a video with a skincare brand CEO, Charlotte Palermino. Per the above source:
On Monday, the Rhode Island chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America torched Ocasio-Cortez, the DSA’s most famous member, over the sunscreen video. “A true tribune of the working class,” the chapter wrote sarcastically on X, formerly known as Twitter.
[…]
The chapter was joined by other voices on the left, including Margaret Kimberley, executive editor of Black Agenda Report, who wrote that Ocasio-Cortez was the “most unserious member of Congress”. The Marxist party Socialist Alternative, which launched its own caucus within DSA last year, published a two-page tirade blasting AOC’s video: “The beauty industry is fundamentally sexist, racist, and anti-worker,” it wrote. “Anyone who’s comfortable working within this system is not on our side. It’s past time for the left to say, once and for all, no more sellouts!”
I’m sorry, but what?! The other side has a man who has been charged with 91 crimes leading their presidential nomination polls, but sure, let’s go after the woman who is trying to raise awareness around a silly regulatory hangup for something that should be used by anyone who goes outside, ever, to prevent cancer and burning. Yes, that is absolutely the right thing to do. Also, you lose all credibility when you call AOC the most “unserious member of Congress” when Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, … and you know what? I can’t list the entirety of the Republican party out right now to make this point, just take your pick as the “most unserious” but I guarantee you it’s not AOC by a long shot. Good grief.
Look, I get it. When someone you thought aligned with you completely turns out to only align with you on the majority of things, it can be tempting to come after them for things you don’t think are a priority. However, as someone who spends at least an hour outside every day, sweating a lot, I can assure you that America’s crappy sunscreen is a real issue that can lead to real harm, so why not take it on, especially if America is behind the rest of the world on the issue? At least one labor organization agrees, too. Per The Guardian:
In an email, a United Farm Workers spokesperson said farm workers “experience higher rates of melanoma compared to other occupations, and protecting their skin from sun exposure is crucial. Sunscreen is not a cosmetic, it is a cancer prevention tool.
“It might be difficult to understand the importance of sun protection if you do not actually work outdoors exposed to the elements,” the spokesperson added. “In that case, it would be pragmatic to learn from the workers who do.”
So to those of you fussing at AOC because you think this is unserious, all I can say is: hush. Let her lead this fight because we deserve access to the same formulations that are available throughout the rest of the world. If you have a problem with that, well, all I can say is: you’re probably not wearing sunscreen enough.
(image: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
