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Recently, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies held a hearing with FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg regarding the Fiscal Year 2014 budget request for FDA.
During this hearing, Subcommittee Ranking Member Sam Farr (D-CA) shared a compelling, personal story about his brother-in-law, who was an avid outdoorsman diagnosed with melanoma that ultimately proved fatal (hearing video available at C-Span beginning at 28m35s). Ranking Member Farr expressed his concern that FDA had not acted upon any of the eight pending sunscreen ingredient applications that have been pending for over a decade and asked Commissioner Hamburg to explain the delay in taking action on these applications.
While the Public Access to SunScreens (PASS) Coalition was encouraged to hear that the FDA considerssunscreen safety a priority, the Coalition was concerned that Commissioner Hamburg had no details as to when the decade-long delay would be addressed, and new sunscreen ingredients would be approved.
The PASS Coalition is a multi-stakeholder coalition of public health organizations, dermatologists, sunscreen ingredient companies, and concerned citizens who will work collaboratively with the (FDA), the White House and Congress to establish a timely and transparent framework for approval of the next generation of UV active filters for Over-the-Counter (OTC) sunscreens.
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