.png)
Protect Australian Children: Align Sunscreen Benzene Limits with International Standards
Updated: Aug 3
Dr. Abhinandan Chowdhury, PhD (Toxicology, AU)
MSc (Analytical Bioscience, UK) | BSc (Biotechnology, AU)
Head of Toxicology and Compliance, VeganicSKN Australia
Benzene, a proven Group 1 human carcinogen, is still permitted in Australian sunscreens at up to 2 parts per million (ppm).
TGA testing has already found Australian aerosol sunscreens exceeding that limit.
The EU, Canada and the ASEAN region already ban benzene outright in cosmetic products. This isn't a recent or experimental standard.
Blood cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in Australian children, with incidence rising 40% over the past two decades (Leukaemia Foundation, 2025).
1. What is Benzene? – A Well-Established Human Carcinogen
Classified Group 1 “known human carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) since 1979.
Strong links to acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and other blood cancers; emerging links to breast, kidney, bladder and colorectal cancers.
2. How does it get into sunscreen?
Benzene is not added on purpose. It can appear when:
Raw materials are contaminated.
Manufacturing is poorly controlled.
Certain UV filters (e.g., octocrylene, avobenzone) degrade in heat or sunlight
TGA’s own 2022 tests in Australia showed:
In 2021–22, the TGA tested 18 aerosol sunscreen products on the Australian market. Three were found above the 2 ppm limit, all from the same product line. That product was recalled, but the finding stands: products already sold in Australia have exceeded the TGA's own benzene standard.
3. Australia’s preventable gap
Benzene isn't an ingredient in sunscreen. It's a contaminant, and there's no established safe level for it outside an industrial setting, let alone for something reapplied on children's skin through an Australian summer.
The EU, Canada and the ASEAN region have already banned it from cosmetic products. This isn't a recent or experimental standard. It's how those markets have operated for years.
Children aren't small adults in how they take on an exposure like this. Skin surface area relative to body weight runs up to three times higher in young children than in adults, meaning a proportionally larger dose from the same product used the same way. Breathing rates are higher per kilogram too, and the enzyme systems that clear compounds like benzene from the body are still developing in early childhood (ATSDR, 2020). Real-world use compounds this: in childcare settings, sunscreen is often reapplied several times a day, every day a child is outdoors, beyond the seasonal, once-daily pattern most exposure modelling assumes. Route of exposure is only one part of the risk picture. Cumulative dose over years of childhood, and whether the exposure can be avoided at all, matter just as much.
TGA testing has already turned up Australian products over the 2 ppm limit. Removing benzene from sunscreen is not a difficult problem. The EU and Canada have already shown it's achievable in cosmetic products at scale.
4. What we ask
Close the gap between the standard the EU, Canada and ASEAN apply to sunscreen and the standard Australia applies to it. Set the benzene limit in Australian sunscreens to 0 ppm.
5.References
Leukaemia Foundation. (2026). Rising blood cancer numbers ripping childhoods away from Australian children [media release]. https://www.leukaemia.org.au/news/rising-blood-cancer-numbers-ripping-childhoods-away-from-australian-children/
Therapeutic Goods Administration. (2022). Testing for benzene in aerosol sunscreen products being supplied in Australia. https://www.tga.gov.au/testing-benzene-aerosol-sunscreen-products-being-supplied-australia
International Agency for Research on Cancer. Benzene, Group 1 classification, Supplement 1 (1979).
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. (2020). Principles of Pediatric Environmental Health: How Are Newborns, Infants, and Toddlers Exposed To and Affected by Toxicants? U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://archive.cdc.gov/www_atsdr_cdc_gov/csem/pediatric-environmental-health/newborns_infants_toddlers.html
