Queensland mother Jessie Swan’s three-month-old son spent three days in hospital this summer after a Cancer Council SPF50+ Peppa Pig sunscreen left his little body badly “burnt”.
Distressed, the mum took to the Cancer Council Australia Facebook page with a message, warning others parents of the product’s possible dangers.
The Hatton Vale local insists that her boy Tommy spent no time in direct sun, but, rather, that his reaction was down to the product itself.
“This is my 3 month old son,” she wrote on Facebook. “He has not been in the sun, he was simply outdoors so I put screen on him just in case.”
“We’ve been in hospital for 3 days 2 nights so far trying to treat this horrible rash/burn caused by your 50+Peppa pig sunscreen.”
“DO NOT BUY THIS SUNSCREEN. Please explain how your product could possibly do this?!”
Jessie’s post has since received more than 7,000 shares and almost 4,000 comments, some of which were left by other disgruntled parents who claim their children experienced similar reactions after using the sun protection.
“I used this on my kids on Monday, they were outside for 2 hours at a water park and they came home sunburnt and bright red. I bathed them both and took about 3 hrs for the redness to settle. Won’t be using this again, the 3 hrs was very stressful as I thought the boys were badly sunburnt,” shared one mother.
Astonished by the sheer number of responses to her post, Jessie spoke out once more.
“I would expect maybe one or two comments about similar reactions, but I’m appalled by the amount of others who have gone through this. This can’t be right — a product aimed at children should be gentle and safe,” she says in a follow-up post.
”This initial post was written in anger, and I really don’t want to slam the Cancer Council, I’ve always had no problems with them and believe in supporting a good cause. I just wanted to raise the awareness.
“I really hope this was a bad batch and little Tommy has unfortunately suffered, however the hundreds of others commenting is disheartening.”
Baby Thomas has since been released from hospital and is said to be improving.
Thomas on day two of treatment.
According to kidspot, the Cancer Council Australia have responded to the hundreds of Facebook comments that followed Jessie’s initial warning, stating:
Yesterday we were saddened to learn via Facebook that a young child had a negative experience with our SPF50+ Kids Sunscreen.
We take any concern raised about our products very seriously and have been in direct contact with the boy’s mother, Jessie, to investigate this further.
This product has been on the market for a number of years. Since it was introduced more than 250,000 bottles have been sold. We have only received a very small number of complaints regarding this product, some of which related to issues with the function of the pump spray, not the sunscreen itself.
Sunscreens in Australia are strictly regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). All Cancer Council sunscreens and their ingredients are fully compliant with these regulations and all of our sunscreens are independently tested to ensure they exceed the SPF level advised on the bottle.
Additionally, all products formulated for sensitive skin, including our SPF50+ Kids Sunscreen, are dermatologically tested to ensure that they pass the Repeat Insult Patch Test (RIPT), a recognised formal skin sensitivity test for topically applied products. If you have sensitive skin, doing a personal patch test is even more important.
