Australia has long been held up as a pioneer in sun care – from education around exposure and skin health, to the elegance of its sunscreen formulas.
It is no wonder the country is leading the way, as it has among the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.
But an SPF scandal has raised questions over testing methods, and left consumers concerned over how much protection they are really getting from their products, in the region and beyond.
It started this summer when Australian consumer watchdog Choice found that several sunscreens it tested returned SPF levels below those stated on the bottle.
The results have prompted a number of brands to pull some of their products from shelves, and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Australia’s sunscreen regulator, launched an investigation, which remains ongoing.
In an update on its progress in recent weeks, the TGA identified that the base formula used by Ultra Violette in its Lean Screen SPF 50+ – which returned the lowest SPF of just four in Choice’s tests and was voluntarily recalled – was also used by a number of other brands.
Preliminary testing by the manufacturer of the base formula, Wild Child Laboratories, “indicates that this base formulation is unlikely to have an SPF greater than 21”, the TGA said in a statement.
The regulator did not identify any manufacturing issues that could have contributed to the low SPF results, it said, but has “significant concerns” about Princeton Consumer Research (PCR), a UK-based lab, and the reliability of its testing.
In total, so far, 21 sunscreen products have been affected, resulting in them being recalled, paused from sale, or their listing being cancelled from the TGA’s register.
Consumer trust crisis
The issues have come to light at a time when consumers are already questioning SPF.
At this year’s Sun Protection Conference, Adjunct Associate Professor Craig Sinclair, who is also Head of the Prevention Division at the Cancer Council Victoria, in Melbourne, Australia, said consumer confidence in sunscreen has never been lower.
The expert helped mastermind Australia’s public awareness campaigns around sun care, including its famous ‘Slip, Slop, Slap’, and SunSmart – one of the longest-running skin cancer prevention programmes in the world.
Jennifer Rudd, cosmetics regulatory consultant and founder of Skincare Business Foundations, tells Cosmetics Business: “It is a significant blow to consumer trust in SPF, especially at a time when consumer trust is already under pressure, thanks to the anti-sunscreen movement driven by ‘low-toxxers’ and misinformation online.
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