EU help for Europe's sun seekers

The European commission has revealed plans to overhaul the way sunscreen products are labelled.

Brussels believes that the current labelling system had a number of “weaknesses” including ambiguous product information and false claims that products offer “total protection.”

“The current situation is untenable,” said commission vice-president for enterprise and industry Günter Verheughen on Thursday.

“The best way forward is a recommendation to which industry commits to label sunscreen products properly,” This will give consumers clear and coherent information without creating unnecessary red-tape for industry.”

The commission says that common terminology used on sunscreens such as “sun protection factor” could be unintentionally misleading consumers into thinking they are fully protected from the harmful effects of the sun.

The well-known sun protection factor (SPF) system addresses mainly UVB radiation, which causes sunburn, but not UVA radiation, which is an important contributor to skin-cancers and to skin ageing.

And different testing methods by sunscreen manufacturers leads to inconsistent and confusing labelling suggests the commission.

“Every producer has his own way to measure and indicate this protection, such as ‘broad spectrum’, broad extra UVA, UVB, strengthened protection UVA and others.”

The commission also wants to end product labels claiming to provide ‘sun blockers’ and ‘total protection’, and counter misleading claims that sunscreen products fully protect babies and young children.

“Consumers must be made fully aware that no sunscreen product can provide 100 per cent protection against hazardous UV-radiation,” said EU heath chief, Markos Kyprianou.

“There are serious health risks, such as skin cancer, linked to insufficient protection from the sun. EU citizens need to be fully informed about what sunscreens will and will not do for them.”

Brussels also wants clearer information on the correct application of sunscreen products.

“For example, in order to reach the protection indicated with the ‘sun protection factor’, a quantity of 2mg/cm² is required. The quantity to cover the whole body can amount to a third of a smaller bottle. Moreover, this quantity has to be reapplied frequently,” say the commission.

Brussels will, following a public consultation, present common labelling guidelines to ensure that the sunscreen industry by 2007, applies “standardised, simple and understandable labelling.”

The EU’s sunscreen industry is worth around €1.3bn per year, and is dominated by European companies.

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