UK: Major pharmacy chain withdraws sun creams with inadequate protection
There is yet more controversy over sunbathing this week with the news that a major pharmacy has stopped stocking all sun tan lotions with a protection level of less than 15.
Lloydspharmacy, which ha some 1,300 stores around the UK, took the decision after a warning by the charity Cancer Research UK that creams with lower factors do not offer enough protection against the sun’s rays. The organisation recommends that people do not use lotions with a protection factor of less than 15, which allows seven per cent of the harmful rays to reach the skin. Some 1,600 British people die of skin cancer each year.
Mark Green, the commercial director of the company, told The Independent on Sunday: “We are trying to educate customers and we are very clear in telling people to reapply sun cream through leaflets and on warnings on our products. There is strong evidence that people are getting burned because they stay out too long in the wrong factor.”
