Chemical filter

Octisalate

Modest UVB booster, rarely used alone. Absorbed in FDA maximum-use trials. No strong current cancer or endocrine case against it.

Octisalate is a UVB salicylate (peak about 305 nm) used as a booster and solvent more than as a standalone filter. Australia, the EU and the US all cap it at 5%.

It was not in TGA’s seven-ingredient 2025 review. FDA maximum-use trials detected it in plasma above the 0.5 ng/mL data-requirement line, so FDA still wants more modern GRASE data. Modern endocrine and reproductive evidence is limited and does not establish clinical harm at labelled use.

Technically weaker than ethylhexyl triazone. Fine as part of a blend; not a filter to seek out or to panic over.

Sources

Sunscreens with Octisalate

Are we sloppy? Tell Gus.