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TGA Opens Consultation on Overhaul of Sunscreen Testing and Labels

The move aims to rebuild trust following reports of unreliable SPF claims.

Overview

  • The TGA, which opened the consultation Thursday, will take public submissions for eight weeks.
  • The draft would tighten SPF testing, accredit and monitor labs, and adopt new test methods to address unreliable results.
  • The regulator is considering replacing numeric SPF with plain categories such as low, medium, high and very high.
  • The agency warned that any label change would require legislation and new spending by manufacturers and could diverge from other countries.
  • The push follows CHOICE testing that found 16 of 20 SPF50 products fell short, prompting recalls and alarms in a country with about 2,000 skin cancer deaths each year.