00:02It's a whole raft of proposed changes and I think as someone who's been covering sunscreen
00:08for more than a year now, quite extensively, the ones that stand out to me really are about
00:14SPF testing.
00:16Some of the changes are things that consumers might have thought were already happening.
00:21For example, when a brand or a company tests its sunscreen product, it doesn't actually
00:26have to give that test result to the TGA at the time that they list the product for sale.
00:31They just have to hold it and then the TGA can ask for it if it needs it, which means
00:34if something goes wrong with that sunscreen, there's time that is spent trying to retrieve
00:39them.
00:40Now sunscreens will be required to hand that over before they list a sunscreen for sale.
00:45And as you say, they'll be required to test multiple times.
00:48The current system is that it's a bit of a set and forget system.
00:50Once you've done your testing, if you don't make any major changes to that sunscreen, you
00:54don't have to test again.
00:55So there's sunscreens on the market that may not have been tested for quite a number
00:59of years.
01:00In relation to that testing, it also has to be on the final product.
01:04Not sure how closely you followed the sunscreen scandal last year, but there was a sunscreen
01:10that had an SPF of foreign choices testing, which was recalled.
01:14And then 19 other sunscreens that shared the same base formula were also recalled.
01:20So the TGA is now saying you can't just test the base, you have to test the finished product.
01:24The other big change is to the methodology that's used at the moment.
01:29It's a human testing, like they use human subjects to do the testing.
01:32And there has been some issues with integrity of testing from some test labs, but even from
01:38reputable test labs that are definitely doing the right thing.
01:42There can be huge variability in that testing.
01:44So they're adding a new form that doesn't require human testing.
01:47It can be done in a lab on plastic plates.
01:50But that won't solve all the problems either, because in Australia, we need to have water
01:55resistant sunscreen because of the amount of time so many Australians spend in the water.
01:59And the new methodology can't really do the water resistance testing properly at this stage.
02:03So there's some of the headlines in the proposed reforms by the regulator.
02:07These regulatory proposals have been released today, but what has not been released, and
02:14it's a notable omission, is the TGA's investigation into those specific sunscreens that were tested
02:19by Choice.
02:20Now, as I mentioned, one of those has been recalled and the others with the same base formula,
02:24but there are 15 others that didn't meet their label claims according to Choice's testing.
02:29And we still don't know what the outcome of the TGA investigation into that is.
02:33It's worth noting that, and the TGA has said this to us multiple times, it takes a risk
02:39based approach.
02:40So it has removed the sunscreens that were the greatest risk to public health.
02:44If a sunscreen is over sort of 20 to 25 and above, it does still provide a significant
02:51amount of protection.
02:52That's not to say that it shouldn't be what it says on the label, but we still don't know
02:56what it's doing about those particular sunscreens.
02:58And when we spoke to consumer group Choice today, they have largely welcomed these reforms,
03:04but they want to know what the answer to that investigation is.
03:06And the other disappointment that they've expressed is that one of the calls that they
03:11and other consumers have made is for the SPF testing that's to be provided to the regulator
03:15to be made public.
03:16They're like, make it free for everybody to look at, and then there's nothing to hide.
03:20The TGA has pointed out that there are some significant issues to overcome if that were to happen,
03:25and it hasn't suggested that it will happen, such as commercial confidentiality and even
03:30the potential for people to misinterpret very technical SPF data.
03:33The TGA has pointed out that there are some of the things that we can do in the future.
03:35The TGA has pointed out that there are some of the things that we can do in the future.
03:36The TGA has pointed out that there are some of the things that we can do in the future.
