A complaint against Consumer by the Indoor Tanning Association has not been upheld.
The Indoor Tanning Association of New Zealand (ITANZ) laid a complaint with the New Zealand Press Council over the article in Consumer 509 (December 2010/January 2011) reporting the results of our mystery shop of sunbed operators.
ITANZ, through its spokesperson Matt Adams, claimed that the article inaccurately represented the role sunbed emissions could play in stimulating the production of Vitamin D.
The complaint was not upheld by the Council. It said in its decision that “this is clearly a highly complex and evolving area of medical science in which debate takes place at the highest academic and medical levels”. … “On the basis of what has been presented, and the conflicting scientific material the Press Council is not qualified to judge the claims of Mr Adams and therefore the claim can not be upheld.”
The Council considered that Consumer could take a strong advocacy position on this issue and hadn’t breached the Press Council’s principles in doing so.
More from consumer.org.nz
- Sunbeds - our mystery shop of sunbed operators
- Sunbed industry put on notice - the Commerce Commission has warned about making false and misleading claims
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