Cancer Society: Testing backs up our sunscreen
After nearly 50 complaints on social media about Cancer Society sunscreen this year, the charitable organisation’s defence has been proven in the laboratory.
The Cancer Society defended its sunscreen after photos of sunburnt New Zealanders put the heat on its Everyday SPF50+ and SPF50+ Kids Pure sunscreen brands.
Of seven formal complaints, the sunscreens involved have been tested and four have been found to meet the claims on their label.
The tests on the other three are yet to be completed.
Cancer Society chief executive Mike Kernaghan said investigations often showed that there were other factors involved when a sunscreen was said to have failed.
‘‘If you go out in the sun for 15 minutes and then you go, ‘Oh, I’d better put some sunscreen on,’ you could already be sunburnt,’’ he said.
‘‘For some skin types it takes less than 10 minutes to get sunburnt. So we do get people saying, ‘Look I’ve been sunburnt using your product,’ but when you work it through ... you get a better picture of why something might have happened.’’
Of the 49 complaints the organisation received over the year, 11 were
❚ Avoid peak sunshine times.
❚ Apply sunscreen 20 minutes before sun exposure to allow time for it to dry.
❚ Apply 1 teaspoon to each arm and to the face, and at least a teaspoon to each leg, the front of body, and the back of body.
❚ Do a patch test on children first, especially if they have sensitive skin.
❚ Reapply every two hours when you are outdoors, and more often if you are in water.
❚ Choose a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30.
❚ Wear a hat and covering items when not in the water.
about allergic reactions and 38 were about sunburn.
Kernaghan said that when people opted for the formal process, they were asked some questions about conditions on the day, how the sunscreen was applied, the expiry date and the batch number.
Then testing was done on the actual tube that was used.
Kernaghan said it fielded complaints every year.
Last season 65 people had touched base with concerns, and 11 went to a formal process, out 424,000 tubes or bottles sold.
He backed Consumer NZ’s call for a compulsory standard for sunscreen. ‘‘We manufacture our sunscreen in Australia and the reason is that in Australia sunscreen is classified as a medicine, and so there are very strict manufacturing protocols around any medicine that’s made there.’’
A small proportion of people were always allergic.
‘‘Not everyone can take Panadol. There’s a small percentage of the population that have a reaction to it and sunscreen’s no different.
‘‘And sunscreen is only one part of the package. To be really sunsmart, you need to observe getting in the shade, wearing appropriate clothing, wearing an appropriate hat, putting sunglasses on – all that ‘slip, slop, slap and wrap’ messaging that we address.’’
Consumer NZ has called for New Zealand sunscreens to be regulated, given the country’s extremely high melanoma rates. Sunscreen is governed by voluntary standards, which don’t require companies to test that it actually provides the protection claimed.
Six out of 10 products in
recent annual test of sunscreens were found to fall short of the sun protection factor (SPF) protection claimed on the label. of