A Kiwi mother is petitioning the Government to provide free sunscreen for all children, after it was revealed that New Zealand has now overtaken Australian to boast the highest rate of invasive melanoma in the world.
A study by Queensland researchers found that New Zealand melanoma rates have almost doubled over the past three decades - from about 26 cases per 100,000 people in 1982 to about 50 cases per 100,000 people in 2011.
Skin cancer experts say the research should act as a "wake-up call" for the Government to spend more money on prevention initiatives.
Now concerned mother Karen Mowbray is petitioning Health Minister Jonathon Coleman to provide free sunscreen for every child.
Over a New Zealand summer, Ms Mowbray says she spends $17 a week on a bottle of SPF+50 sunscreen for her three young children, aged 2, 5 and 7
"For some families, this is an expense which cannot be afforded. Yet, it needs to be," she writes on change.org
"Sunscreen should be free or at the very least, subsidised. It should be available for home and readily available in every classroom and childcare centre in New Zealand.
"Spray-on sunscreen would take less than 20 seconds to apply to each child. Every child in New Zealand should have access to sunscreen."
Researchers from QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane found that while Australia's melanoma rates have been declining since 2005, New Zealand's rates are still increasing and are not expected to start falling until about next year.
The study, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia and published in The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, compared the rates of invasive melanoma - the deadliest form of skin cancer - in populations across Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, and the European population of the United States, from 1982 to 2011.
While study head Professor David Whiteman said Kiwis have become more sun smart, more prevention work could be done, and for many older New Zealanders the damage has been done. "As New Zealand's population ages, the number of melanomas diagnosed will continue to increase," he said.
Associate Professor Tony Reeder of the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine at the University of Otago criticised the Government for failing to ban commercial cosmetic sunbed services, in contrast with Australia. NZME