Sunscreen scandal: Products that fail to match promised protection should be removed from stores

Some things have to be made clear to us all – but this is the scary truth. HAVE YOUR SAY

Should products that fail to match promised protection be scrapped?

If we can’t trust what the Cancer Council says, who can we trust?

Revelations that some of its sunscreen products are not protecting us as they promise shows a reckless disregard for so many; donors and volunteers and cancer survivors who spend so their time and money helping to build its reputation.

And it fuels the thumping distrust we already have for many of our big institutions, including our police services, banks and churches.

All of those were once unassailable.

The first time I was allowed to roam free with my friends at the Dalby Show, my parents pinned a note to my singlet, with their details and a picture of a police officer.

If I became lost in the tangle of colours and lights and rides and generous helpings of fairy floss, I should look for a police officer because they were trustworthy and dependable, they said.

Not that many years later, Queensland’s Fitzgerald Inquiry questioned that view – and our trust in a service set up to protect us was smashed. It’s taken years to mend.

It’s a similar case with our Churches, where the most despicable acts were hidden from both sunlight and the law.

Later, it was banks who we learnt had lied and connived and even sent notes of demand to dead people.

Trust in our big organisations is crucial for our community to work. We can, perhaps, understand that social media giants will never be there for us, or our children. Neither will the telcos and a host of other so-called services. Politicians too.

But police and religion and our big banks should be above all of that, and their failure to treat those they serve with any sort of respect has tarnished their history, and our long-term trust in institutions.

But the Cancer Council?

The revelations this week that 16 of 20 popular sunscreens tested by CHOICE did not meet their SPF claims is a failure at many levels.

And the fact that several of them were Cancer Council-branded should be a national shame. Some Cancer Council sunscreens only provided half the protection they boasted.

Skin cancer is our national cancer. Australia has the highest rate in the world, and Queensland tops the state of origin.

The sunscreen scandal shocked many.

More than 440,000 Australians are treated each year and more than 2000 people will die this year. Too many of them are young. And two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer during their lifetime.

Those are the facts. But unlike some evil cancers that target indiscriminately, the Cancer Council – which takes public funding and is buoyed by a generous public – promises this cancer is largely preventable.

That’s why parents demand their teen daughters wear rashies over their bikinis. It is why we insist on big-brimmed hats for Saturday cricket fixtures. And it’s why we spend money on sunscreen.

To find out that a CHOICE investigation has found many sunscreens, including those put out by the Cancer Council, are not protecting us in the way they should not good enough.

But it doesn’t start and end there. The Therapeutic Goods Administration is charged with the regulation of sunscreens. But according to CHOICE, it leaves that up to “reports supplied by manufacturers’’.

That is not good enough and we have to find a better way. It should – as CHOICE recommends – conduct its own compliance testing.

“We believe the TGA should invest in its own compliance testing instead of simply relying on reports provided by manufacturers, and the ACCC should investigate if consumers are being misled,’’ CHOICE says.

And prosecute.

The other branded sunscreens that failed to meet promised claims – one which boasted SPF50+ returned an SPF of 4 – should be removed from sale, immediately.

A promise of sun cancer protection is not akin to a promise about the number of grams of protein in a prepared dinner, or a promise that the hair dye we use will be an exact match to the picture on the front of the packet.

This is about trust in one of our most loved national charities, used 250,000 times by those who need it each year.

It’s about a cancer that puts us on top of the list of sufferers in the world.

And it’s about protection. The Cancer Council’s reputation, for sure. But ours too. And we shouldn’t let this pass, as quickly as summer has in the last week.

Originally published as Sunscreen scandal: Products that fail to match promised protection should be removed from stores