KEY POINTS:
Some sunscreens are giving people false assurances about the level of protection they offer which could be dangerous, the Commerce Commission says.
The commission launched an investigation into products marketed by four companies after complaints last year by the Cancer Society that the products claimed to provide all-day protection from the sun from just one application.
It was alleged this was misleading under the Fair Trading Act.
"Consumers must be able to rely on the representations made in advertising and packaging," commission chairwoman Paula Rebstock said.
"There are potentially important health consequences for consumers if they are misled about the level of protection they can expect in New Zealand conditions from sunscreen products."
Ms Rebstock said some of the products tested did meet the claims made.
"However, the commission has serious concerns about some of the sunscreen products, which we allege do not provide the protection claimed, based on the testing undertaken."
Ms Rebstock said the commission was negotiating with the sunscreen companies whose products allegedly did not meet their claims.
"If the commission is unable to achieve settlements within a tight timeframe it will prosecute under the Fair Trading Act," she said.
The commission arranged testing of the SPF factors of the products at the Australian Photobiology Testing Facility. The results were reported on in the context of New Zealand sun conditions by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
The Hawaiian Tropic range of products made claims which implied "all-day protection". However, based on the Niwa report, the commission alleges that three of the five products could not make that claim.
Hawaiian Tropic SPF 15 Plus Sunblock, Hawaiian Tropic Kids Splash SPF 30 Sunblock and Hawaiian Tropic SPF 30 Plus Sunblock all failed to meet the represented SPF.
Only Hawaiian Tropic Sunjunk SPF 45 and Hawaiian Tropic Baby Faces 50+ could accurately claim "all-day protection".
However, Hawaiian Tropic Baby Faces 50+ had an SPF of 33, not the SPF of 50 as stated on its label.
BDM Grange, the company that markets Hawaiian Tropic, and Tanning Research Laboratories, the American manufacturer, had withdrawn all of the products that failed the testing and had replaced them with products which they claimed would pass testing against the New Zealand and Australian standard.
The commission has offered a settlement to BDM Grange and Tanning Research Laboratories.
Once Sunscreen said it offered full protection from the sun for eight hours and light tanning after longer exposure.
On testing, the sunscreen exceeded the SPF value claimed.
However, further testing concluded that it could not offer eight hours protection from the sun if it was applied in the quantity recommended on the packaging.
The commission is entering into settlement negotiations with Once Trading. The product was still being marketed with the alleged offending instructions of use.
Daylong sunscreen was promoted as offering "all day sun protection" and testing revealed that all the Daylong products met their claimed SPF level.
The tests confirmed that the two Daylong Sunscreens labelled SPF 30+ could offer all-day protection in the New Zealand sun.
However, the Daylong Sunscreen SPF 15 could not offer all-day protection, according to the test results.
Ms Rebstock said Daylong Sunscreen SPF 15 had been withdrawn from pharmacies by the trader (CSL), who had offered an out-of-court settlement to the commission at an early stage in the investigation. The settlement was agreed yesterday.
Piz Buin 1 Day Long sunscreen claimed on its packaging to provide 10 hours of sun protection from a single application.
Testing revealed it had an effective SPF level of 40 over the course of a day, and could provide all-day protection in the New Zealand sun.
Ms Rebstock said consumers who had bought any of the products that failed the testing for "day-long protection" or SPF claims and still had the product, should use it with care, and seek further advice from the distributor or retailer.
Tanning Research Labs said all Hawaiian Tropic sunscreens currently sold in this country market had passed screener testing against the non-mandatory joint Australian/New Zealand standard for SPF testing.
- Staff reporter, NZPA
* An earlier version of this story carried a picture which incorrectly showed a current Hawaiian Tropic product. The manufacturer says: "All Hawaiian Tropic sunscreens currently sold into the New Zealand market have passed screener testing against the non-mandatory joint Australian/New Zealand standard for SPF testing."
