The Trading Standards Institute (TSI) has warned parents of the dangers of many children’s sun creams, of which it says many do not work properly. Research carried out by the TSI showed that seven in eight creams tested did not offer the protection they claimed on their containers.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the research showed that three of the products did not offer the UVA protection they claimed (UVA rays penetrate beneath the skin) and four did not offer the protection they claimed against UVB rays (those which burn the outer skin).
The TSI’s chief executive Ron Gainsford is quoted as saying: “It is a major concern to us that parents could be unwittingly exposing their children to the risk of sun damage, thinking they are better protected than they actually are.
“Nobody puts sun cream on themselves or their children because it makes them look better – they do it solely for health reasons and this should be reflected in its testing regime and the legislation governing it.”
TSI has not identified those products identified in the survey, but Boots has stated that its product Soltan was the only one of the eight that gave the UVA and UVB protection it promised.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad
