Could ozone depletion in the northern hemisphere brighten Europe’s sunscreen market?
Central Europe and Scandinavia warned of higher than normal UV radiation
The ozone layer, which has often been called the ‘Earth’s sunscreen’ has been depleting for years over the southern hemisphere. But now, with a recent report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) that major depletion in the ozone layer has been found over the northern hemisphere, Europeans might be more inclined to trade in their tan lines for sun lotion this summer.
The WMO announced in April that the depletion of the ozone layer had reached an unprecedented level over the Arctic this spring because of the continuing presence of ozone depleting substances in the atmosphere. Overall, the Arctic region suffered an ozone column loss of about 40% from the beginning of the winter to late March.
Because of this, central Europe and Scandinavia in particular were warned that they would experience higher than normal UV radiation. Robert Meisner, a spokesman at the European Space Agency (ESA) says that the threat to Europeans due to the low ozone concentration back in the spring “was relatively low, as it was mainly affecting northern and central Europe, and it was not the season to go to the beach”. But he also says that in general low ozone concentrations also happen during the summer and then the UV radiation can be lot higher than normal. “These low ozone concentrations in Europe tend to correlate with good weather conditions,” adds Meisner.
With this uncharacteristic development in ozone depletion comes an increased awareness of the interaction between ozone damage, climate change and the incidence of skin cancer – as well as a major opportunity for the sunscreen industry. According o Geir Braathen, a senior scientist with the WMO: "Without the ozone layer, we would be subject to 70 times more intensive ultraviolet radiation than we do today,” said.
Eleanor O’Connor, spokesperson for the CTPA in the UK comments that while the association does not have solid evidence to support a demand for higher SPF sunscreens in the Europe as the ozone depletes, she suspects there has been a move towards that, “as health advice has moved towards recommending higher factor sunscreens and particularly those providing both UVA and UVB protection”.
Helen Hine of Croda Personal Care Europe, a world leader in speciality chemicals for sun care, says the sun care market in Europe has seen continued growth in recent years due to increasing consumer awareness about the damaging effects of UV, which has led people to seek higher and higher SPFs as well as UVA protection. “These trends could well continue if consumers make the link between increased UV exposure levels and environmental changes such as ozone depletion,” she adds.
Figures from Euromonitor International show that globally sun care sales rose in 7% in 2010 following a poor performance in 2009, where value growth fell to 4%. However Euromonitor accredits this increase not to awareness about the depleting ozone but rather to recovery from the recession and international holiday travel rates going back up.
Sun care growth is fragmented across Europe at the moment. In France for example, according to Euromonitor, 2009 sales of sun care products increased by 6% from the previous year to reach €335m, while in the UK, sun care sales began to decline with a 0.1% fall in current value terms the same year. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to use effective protection but the recession has slowed the market down a little, says Euromonitor. The researcher does report however that manufacturers are particularly confident about the potential of sun care in the coming years – increasing awareness among consumers of the potential damage of exposure to the sun, along with national information campaigns will likely contribute to sales of sunscreen along with products providing higher SPF protection.
A number of manufacturers of skin care products and colour cosmetics are also currently including SPF features in their products as standard; moisturisers, foundations, powders and bronzers can now all be formulated with sun protection functionality.
Australia has been a world leader in the development of effective and meaningful sunscreen testing procedures for many years due to the high UV radiation levels in the country, partly because of the southern hemisphere ozone hole.
Cairin Conway, spokeswoman at the Cancer Council Victoria in Australia believes that as long as the public is properly informed about the dangers of the depleting ozone and its subsequent UV implications, the sunscreen market should continue to grow globally. “Despite the global phasing out/international restrictions around the use of CFCs, it is predicted that ozone levels won't recover until approximately 2050-2065 and may even be delayed as much as 50 years because of global warming,” she says.
Conway continues: “Scientists expect the combined effect of recent stratospheric ozone depletion and its continuation over the next 1-2 decades will be an increase in the incidence of skin cancer in fair skinned populations living at mid-high latitudes.”
Education and research director for the Cancer Council Western Australia, Terry Slevin says that in Australia the diminution of the ozone layer that has occurred over the last few decades results in ozone depleted air sweeping across the southernmost parts of the country for approximately a 4-6 week period in spring (September/October), but that the damaging effect is decreasing.
“This results in higher rates of UV radiation reaching our part of the world at that time but the increase is modest – probably less than 5%,” he said. “My understanding is that this is not an effect that is likely to be replicated in Europe.” Adding a further note of optimism he says: “The reduction/removal of CFCs being released into the atmosphere will eventually resolve the ‘hole in the ozone layer’.”
