When five-year-old Isaac Eddy was badly sunburned in February, his mum Sarah suffered almost as much as he did.
The mother-of-two is blaming herself for Isaac's sunburn, even though she had covered him with a water-resistant sunscreen offering a high level of protection.
"Just the fact that I put that on him, that I contributed to it, it broke my heart," a teary Sarah explained.
Sarah says she slathered Isaac with Banana Boat SPF 50+ High Protection Sunscreen and followed the application instructions to the letter.
"On my back, on my toes, on my feet and neck and my face," Isaac said when asked where his mum applied the sunscreen.
But despite that, Isaac took a fortnight to recover from serious sunburn on his back and upper thigh.
The youngster was in serious pain and unable to sleep while his skin turned from pink, to blisters, to layers of peeling, rawness and scabbing.
Sarah says she first applied the Banana Boat product to Isaac and his brother William at home, more than 20 minutes before the family headed off on an outing at the beach.
"Before we set off, I covered the kids in sunscreen from head to toe," Sarah said.
"At 2.30pm I reapplied the sunscreen. By that time, it had been an hour since we left home."
Sarah says she applied more sunscreen at 3.30pm and 4.30pm and that Isaac started turning pink when they got home at 5.30pm – that is four applications in as many hours.
The sunscreen label also offered four hours protection in water.
Fair Go supplied Edgewell Personal Care – the company behind Banana Boat — with this information and requested a possible explanation for Isaac being so seriously burnt.
Sarah also sent the company pictures showing Isaac's progression over the fortnight it took him to recover.
In a statement, Edgewell Personal Care says it was "very sorry to hear about the family's experience".
The company went on to say, "Based on our experience, a leading cause of sunburn is not using enough product during the application process... No sunscreen — even SPF50+ products – provide 100 per cent protection from the sun."
Sarah says she bought the Banana Boat product because of its Special Protection Factor, or SPF, 50+ rating and its claim of being water resistant for four hours.
The Cancer Society says the claims made on the label comply with the international standard for SPF, but many consumers don't realise how products are tested to achieve compliance.
"The claims on the bottle are accurate in terms of how they're tested," chief executive Lucy Elwood said.
"I just think there's a misunderstanding of what that means."
SPF testing is conducted according to an international standard in laboratories worldwide.
The test involves participants covered in sunscreen sitting in a spa pool for four hours.
The participants then stand in front of a UV lamp to see how long it takes for their skin to burn.
The sample size is a group of 10 with a range of skin types and must be conducted at least every seven years.
The SPF testing regime has broadsided Sarah, who assumed sunscreen would be tested in real life conditions like the sea and at the beach.
"It's bizarre, it doesn't make sense to me," she says.
"You need to be testing in the harsh realities of today's environment."
Fair Go asked the Cancer Society whether consumers should expect to be well protected at the beach by SPF 50 sunscreen also promising four hours of protection in the water.
"The honest answer is no," Elwood said.
"What they should expect is that a human has sat in a spa pool wearing that sunscreen for four hours and then had a test done."
Sarah says that even though Isaac removed his rash shirt at the beach, she relied on the Banana Boat sunscreen's SPF 50+ rating to protect him.
"I just feel let down," she said.
"We rely on these brands and trust in them that they're going to do what they say they're designed to do. It makes me angry, really angry."
Banana Boat's statement says: "It is also extremely important to stress that sunscreen is only one part of a combination of actions people must take to protect themselves against the sun."
The company advises consumers and their children to also wear protective clothing, hats and eyewear.
A Private Member's Bill advocating the regulation of sunscreen to a therapeutic standard is now before the New Zealand Parliament.
If passed, the bill would follow Australia, which already has sunscreen regulation in place.
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