Since July 2021, a consortium of users and developers of sun protection factor (SPF) tests has been identifying, characterising, and evaluating alternative sunscreen testing methods against the current gold standard.
The current international standard for SPF testing, ISO 24444:2019, involves testing on human volunteers. This is the only accepted method, but the procedure is invasive, complex, time consuming, and costly.
The cosmetics industry has been working in the past years to find suitable alternative methods. However, analysing and characterising new methods for public use demands sophisticated analytical tools. Also, comparing alternative SPF data against the gold standard requires a solid set of in vivo SPF data and thus represents a significant experimental effort that should not be repeated for each alternative method.
This is how, in 2018, the idea for the ALT-SPF initiative was born.
29 partners
9 countries
32 sunscreen samples
5 alternative testing methods
Update as of July 2024
Experiments have been conducted and a publication presenting the results of the ALT-SPF study is under preparation. This website will close in November. Information about the ALT-SPF results and publications will be posted on Cosmetics Europe's website once available....
Call for Test Samples for the ALT-SPF Consortium Test
We are seeking partners who can donate sunscreen test samples for a large ‘ring study’ that aims to compare in vivo SPF values from several alternative SPF methodologies to those from the International Standard ISO24444 – partners could be either within or outside the...
News – The ALT-SPF project has been officially launched
Brussels, 22 July 2021 PRESS RELEASE The ALT-SPF partnership will evaluate alternative sunscreen testing methods A consortium of users and developers of sun protection factor (SPF) tests will identify, characterise, and evaluate alternative sunscreen...