People burning over SPF-15 rating

William Atkins
Wednesday, 01 June 2011 22:58

Science - Health

The medical journal Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin has warned that people should use a stronger sun protection factor (SPF) than SPF 15, which was recently recommended by U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

 

The Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB), a part of the British Medical Journal, doesn't agree with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) with regards to its recommendation that "SPF 15 is sufficient if applied adequately".

The DTB says SPF 15 is not good enough to protect people and SPF 30 should be the recommendation instead.

The June 1, 2011 BBC News article 'SPF15 sun cream 'not strong enough'' quotes Dr. Ike Iheanacho, who is the editor of the DTB. He says, "NICE's recommendation to use sunscreens with an SPF as low as 15 is a blunder that overlooks the key evidence and is not in the best interests of public health.'

Dr. Mike Kelly, director of the Centre for Public Health Excellence at NICE, counters with: "The NICE guidance referred to was not an assessment of which sun protection factor is optimal, but rather was concerned with the most effective ways of reducing skin cancer in England through provision of information, supply of resources and changes to the physical environment.'

He adds, "We commissioned an expert report on the use of sunscreen in preventing skin cancer in England. According to this evidence, which was presented to the committee, SPF 15 should be sufficient as long as it is applied adequately.

And, finally, "However, the guidance also acknowledges that to take account of people not applying sufficient quantities of sunscreen, SPF 30 was also recommended in an expert paper."

Page two concludes.