TRANSCRIPT:
In 2008, Jay Allan was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma.
Over a decade later, after recovering, he founded the Australian Skin Cancer Foundation, hoping to support patients who have similar experiences, and promote sun safety messages.
"Often people don't think (you need to apply sunscreen), especially in winter. But in many parts of Australia, U-V levels are 3 or above, right through the winter months. So really important when you go outside and even you think, 'oh it's cloudy today', we definitely recommend that (you) look at the U-V rating on your phone and often as I mentioned, the levels are 3 and above each day, you should follow the five sun safe rules including applying sunscreens."
Australia has the highest melanoma rates in the world, and is the third most common cancer in the country.
Sunscreen has been at the heart of sun safety messaging for decades - but a new report has raised concerns.
The report from consumer advocacy group CHOICE has found that only four out of the 20 popular sunscreen products in Australia they tested actually match the rating of Sun Protection Factor - or S-P-F - they claimed to have.
The testing DOESN'T mean the sunscreen products are NOT working, but they might just not be as effective.
But CHOICE's chief executive Ashley De Silva says the issue here is that some products aren't aligned with what they HAVE claimed.
"We picked a whole range of brands, many products I think people would be familiar with across the country, and one thing it stands out is that it's not aligned to the brand, so you saw brands like Cancer Council and Neutrogena, they were both one of the four sunscreen that worked, but both of them have products that didn't make their claims as well, so it's not necessarily brand related, it's very specific to the product, and in one instance we had a product that scored as low as four when it was advertised as 50+, it was so low we re-tested it in a separate lab with a different batch of that product, and it came back with a five."
According to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, sunscreen products with an SPF of 30 are already effective to use, while those in the range of 30 to 59 provide HIGH protection.
The TGA says that regardless their brands and SPF levels, sunscreens need to be re-applied frequently.
According to the CHOICE report, half of the 16 products still fall into the SPF range between 30 and 50.
Six of them are between 20 and 30 - which could be less effective if you often go outdoors.
CHOICE contacted the brands following their reports, and while all the brands say they stand by their products, Ashley De Silva says the T-G-A need to take action.
"The TGA needs to kind of look at the fact that this is so far apart and what we are asking them to do is at least for the compliance testing on the 16 products that we've tested that didn't meet their claims."
In a statement to SBS News, the T-G-A has said they are investigating the findings from CHOICE, and will take regulatory action as required.
Meanwhile, experts and advocates say the sun safety message remains the same - and the importance of sunscreen is unchanged.
Jay Allan again.
"You know, if you're using sunscreen at the moment and it's working, you're not getting burnt, then continue to do that. But I guess we'll wait for the second round of the testing to be done, but we just stick to what the scientists and the research points to and that is that sunscreen, you know, can prevent skin cancers, including basal cell carcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas, and in a particular deadly melanoma. So until researchers and you know, come out and say that sunscreen is no good for you, then we can run with that message, but we just got to stick to the science at the moment."
Professor David Whiteman from the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute says other approaches for sun safety are also important.
The Professor says sunscreen should only be the last line of defence.
"We advise people to seek shade from the sun, to protect their skin using hats and sunscreens, and adopt protective clothing, but sunscreen is really the last line of defence for skin that is unprotected to other measures, so it should never be the first line of defence, it's always something we apply to skin that we can't protect in other ways."
Tamara Dawson is the founder of the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Advocacy Network.
She suggests checking the ultraviolet radiation - or U-V - before people head outdoors.
"It's important for all Australians to really understand what the U-V index is where they live, and what the U-V levels are, so in Melbourne, we can be a bit more careful with out sun protection over winter, but certainly in Queensland and other parts of Australia, there's a real opportunity for all Australians what their U-V exposure is."
Since the 1980s, Australia has adopted the famous "Slip, Slop, Slap" public health campaign for sun safety.
Professor Whiteman says sun protection measures can have different impacts on people with different skin tones.
With the growth of immigration in Australia, he says authorities therefore need to rethink its public messaging.
"Look it certainly introduces new communication challenges, because no longer there's one-size-fits-all strategy work, so we need to make sure people at higher risks maintain their very high level of sun protection, and maintain vigilant against excessive sun exposure. But equally, there are other people who are at much lower risks, in fact have a risk of Vitamin D deficiency, so we must ensure that those people get the right message about how to protect themselves against low Vitamin Ds."
Tamara Dawson has stressed the importance of including sun protection into daily routines.
"So we have really high and harsh U-V levels in Australia. In the middle of summer, our U-V index reach 12, 13, 14, and the maximum in the UK or Europe at the peak of their summer is about 6. So there's so much we could all kind of implement our daily routine that can protect us from some of these harsh UV levels. The experts often tell us that incidental exposure, it's walking to the shops or food pick up. So it's not just the day that we are sitting on the beach that we need to think about our U-V exposure."
For Jay Allan, his experience of melanoma is never far from his mind.
He says sunscreen is at the heart of his sun safe routine.
"You know I know myself, my wife and kids we put it on religiously every single day. We reapply as well, and it worked; we don't get burnt - but also we recommend following the five sun safe rules as well."
