Climate Change, Heat, and Ultraviolet Exposure Management: The Need for Safety Management of Sunscreen Ingredients

Background: While climate change is reshaping UV exposure -through heat-driven changes in outdoor activity and work patterns, and regionally variable surface UV levels -sun-protection policy still narrowly centers on encouraging sunscreen use.However, this approach can overlook the contents of the products.Objectives: This study argues that climate adaptation policy should progress from purely promoting sunscreen use to include governing UV filters by ingredient, concentration, exposure route, vulnerable population, and environmental outcome. Methods:We summarized recent safety assessments of major UV filters issued by international regulatory and scientific bodies -including the EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the UK Scientific Advisory Group on Chemical Safety (SAG-CS) -and compared their conclusions with Korea's regulatory framework.Results: Regulatory assessments of 4-methylbenzylidene camphor, homosalate, and oxybenzone -together with evidence of systemic absorption, occupational inhalation of nano-scale raw materials, and aquatic toxicity -have already produced ingredient-specific restrictions abroad.In South Korea, this gap calls for product-level surveillance, concentration verification, and clearer labeling.Conclusions: Sunscreen should remain a major component of sun protection, but environmental health policy must govern what is in it.Product surveillance, concentration verification, and labeling should be prioritized in the near-term while also addressing nano-handling workers, endocrine-disrupting potential, aquatic exposure, and the public's right to know.In short: use sunscreen, but control what is in it.