Popular sunscreens accused of greenwashing by ACCC over ‘reef-friendly’ claims | Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)

Australia’s consumer regulator, popular Hawaii tropical and banana boat sunscreen owner, claims that their products are “reef friendly” claims that they mislead the consumers on the allegations.

Following an investigation by the consumer organization election, the Federal Court procedures appealed by the owner of the products Edgewell personal care, many of them did not provide the level of skin protection advertised in bottles.

The Australian competition and the Consumer Commission said on Tuesday that Edgewell said that when they contain materials that could damage coral and sea life, the two products were reef friendly.

Catriona Lowe, Vice President of ACC, said, “Edgewell claimed that Hawaii Tropical and Banana Boat Sun Creams have no reasonable or scientific basis about the environmental benefits of sunscreen,” he said. “We believe that this behavior is widespread and the potentially risk of misleading a large number of consumers.”

The term green washing refers to the application of a company’s environmental allegations that attract increasing examination from regulators.

Although sunscreens do not contain oxibenzone or arrowcat chemicals known to damage reefs, the regulator claims that they contain other components that cause damage.

In Australia, sunscreens were sold in some cases with reef -friendly allegations, including using a coral image at various times until a period of four years.

An Edgewell spokesman said the company has strictly stopped with the claims of the products. “Proceedings will be defended on this basis,” he said. “Since this is an active case, Edgewell will not provide any more comments right now.”

Last month, Banana Boat was one of the several sunscreen brands, where the election did not offer the skin protection level, and the product’s spf50+ lotion test is 35.

The SPF or Sun Protection factor measures how well ultraviolet radiation can reach it by stating how well the skin protects the skin from the sunburn.

Edgewell was contacted to comment on election findings.

The Ultra Violette’s Lean screen SPF 50+ returned the result of any sunscreen tested by the selection by returning a SPF for only four SPF. Ultra Violette rejected the test results.