UK consumers confused over sunscreen ratings

Published: 26-Jun-2015

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is calling for a change in labelling of sun care products

A Royal Pharmaceutical Society study into sunscreen use in Great Britain has revealed widespread misunderstanding about the degree of sun protection in different products. The society highlighted particular confusion around the fact that an SPF rating alone will not guarantee all round protection from the sun.

The study surveyed 2,000 adults in the country, assessing their understanding of sun care products. Just 8% of those surveyed knew that the SPF rating on the label refers only to protection from UVB rays and does not protect against UVA rays – these are usually indicated by a separate 'star' rating. More than 80% believed that SPF gives an indication of levels of protection from both UVB and UVA and 25% simply did not know what SPF labelling meant at all.

Professor Jayne Lawrence, Chief Scientist for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, called for a change in the labelling of sun protection products. She said: "People should not have to pick their way through complicated dual ratings information to understand how sunscreen works and the amount of protection it potentially provides. We think it’s time for sunscreen manufacturers to provide one easy to understand rating, based on a simple description of the total amount of sun protection offered: low, medium, high and very high protection."

Less than half of those surveyed (44%) always or often used sunscreen when out in the sun and almost a third (31%) either didn't know how much lotion to apply or thought that they should apply less than needed to ensure protection. Just 13% said they reapplied sunscreen every two hours when out in sunny weather and 15% of adults admitted to not checking the SPF rating of products before purchase.

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