The Sunscreen Scandal That Shouldn’t Have Happened
06 Sept 2025
Hook
Imagine buying sunscreen labeled SPF 50 — only to discover it protects you about as well as SPF 4.
That’s not a hypothetical. It just happened. And the regulator didn’t catch it.
Context
An ABC investigation has revealed that 16 out of 20 sunscreens tested in Australia failed to meet their advertised SPF50 claims.
Some of the worst offenders were household names:
- Cancer Council (3 products failed, 1 passed)
- Coles and Woolworths supermarket brands
- Bondi Sands and Sun Bum
- Even Ultra Violette, a cult-favorite “premium” sunscreen, saw one product test at SPF 4.
The common thread? Many of these products had their SPF “proof” signed off by a US/UK-based lab called Princeton Consumer Research (PCR).
Australia is one of the skin cancer capitals of the world.
- More than two out of three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer before age 70.
- In 2024 alone, there were 18,964 new melanoma cases and 1,340 deaths.
When sunscreens fall short, it isn’t just a consumer issue — it’s a public health crisis.
My Take
To me, this reeks of the same old story: money over people, profits over protection.
It’s hard not to see parallels with the VW emissions scandal. Numbers that looked too neat. Labs that signed off on what shouldn’t have passed. Regulators relying on self-certification instead of scrutiny. And only once outsiders blew the whistle did the truth come out.
That’s the real scandal: not just that sunscreens failed, but that the system allowed them to fail quietly.
The human cost? People like you and me — who bought these sunscreens, used them on ourselves and our kids, and walked away sunburned. Thinking we were safe.
For me, that’s why I’ve stopped trusting sunscreen alone. I wear a hat. Long sleeves. I use shade as my first line of defense. Sunscreen is a backup, not a guarantee.
Because the truth is, it’s always outsiders who blow the whistle. Regulators don’t. Companies don’t. Labs don’t. Independent testers and whistleblowers do — and yet those people rarely get the protection they deserve.
We say we value safety, but as long as profit margins dictate the rules, scandals like this will keep happening.
Implications
- Trust gap: If sunscreen labels can’t be trusted, what other health and consumer protections are built on shaky lab data?
- Systemic flaw: Regulators relying on self-certification is an open invitation for abuse.
- Whistleblower role: Independent watchdogs aren’t a nuisance. They’re the only reason we know the truth.
Further Reading
Closing
The sunburn may fade — but the damage to trust doesn’t.
And unless regulators start valuing people over profits, it won’t just be our skin that gets burned next time.
- #opinion
- #analysis
- #health
- #society