Thanks to all who spoke out, wrote in, and demanded change, we have progress to report!
In a quiet but significant win for animals, key provisions from the SAFE Sunscreen Standards Act are becoming law.
In November 2025, Congress passed an omnibus federal spending package. Buried inside it was H.R. 5371—a bill that mirrors the SAFE Act’s most critical goals and “delivers a long-awaited shift in how the United States regulates over-the counter” topicals, including sunscreen.
And, though implementation will take longer than what the SAFE Act demanded, this legislation is being celebrated as “contribut[ing] to ongoing work toward acceptance of non-animal methods.”
In other words, the FDA is finally being forced to reckon with at least one facet of its fixation on animal testing.
Among its provisions. H.R. 5371:
- Directs the FDA to consider alternatives to animal testing—including by factoring in historical safety data (something the agency has long resisted);
- Requires the FDA to issue new draft guidance within one year, outlining how companies can use non-animal methods (like skin-on-a-chip technology) “to meet safety and efficacy standards for sunscreen products;”
- Mandates annual FDA reports on the agency’s progress in allowing animal-free alternatives in the review of sunscreen ingredients.
This law takes direct aim at the FDA’s indefensible requirement that companies conduct new animal tests on sunscreen ingredients already used safely by humans for decades.
Tests that other federal agencies have already deemed unnecessary.
Tests that contradict international scientific consensus.
Tests that even private industry has condemned as “outdated,” “ineffective,” and “unnecessary.”
And, this law is already poised for impact.
On the heels of H.R. 5371’s passage, the FDA announced it would “move quickly” to approve bemotrizinol—a sunscreen ingredient used in Europe for 25 years—as safe and effective for use in the U.S. If it follows through, this will be the first time the FDA has approved a new sunscreen ingredient in over two decades.
H.R. 5371 will help unfurl the FDA’s iron grip on animal research—a grip that has blocked ethical progress, stifled scientific innovation, and condemned countless animals to torture and death.
And, though this law doesn’t go far enough—it doesn’t ban animal testing—it does evidence what we know to be true: Pressure works. Public opinion matters. And policies can be changed.
Let’s keep pushing.
Your Call to Action: Take one minute to help animals in labs now. Visit our online Advocacy Center to sign petitions, send letters to your legislators, and more.