Human sunscreen testing should be phased out because it poses health risks and ethical problems, experts say.
Australian scientists are backing the development of new, "safer" reproducible human-free sunscreen testing because they believe current methods can be harmful.
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Human testing involves volunteers wearing a sunscreen and being exposed to artificial ultraviolet radiation, which can cause cancer.
The process, which is the international standard, measures the performance of sunscreen by the time taken for sunburn to occur.
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), along with Cancer Council Victoria and RMIT University, recommend this form of testing be scrapped due to its long-term health risks.
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RMIT Professor Vipul Bansal led a team that developed a prototype sensor that changes colour when exposed to UV radiation.
The researchers say it could be customised for human-free sunscreen testing by mimicking the skin.
"Sunscreen is an important part of our day-to-day life and we need to promote a better way to be able to identify the protection factors," Dr Bansal said.
"At the moment, we do the testing on humans, which is unethical. We unnecessarily expose our human population participants to UV radiation, which can cause cancer over a long period of time."
Sunscreen testing is just one of many potential applications for nanosensor technology, which can also be used to detect a wide range of diseases and contaminants.
An estimated two in three Australians will develop skin cancer by age 70.
Cancer Council Victoria head of prevention Craig Sinclair said data from the 2020 Victorian Cancer Registry reported 2582 new cases of melanoma across the state.
"Skin cancer is one of the most preventable cancers," Mr Sinclair said.
"In Australia's harsh UV environment, sunscreen is an essential form of sun protection.
"Cancer Council Victoria welcomes all innovation that both works to reduce the burden of skin cancer and brings efficiencies in the manufacturing of sun-protection products."
