ASDA leads lobby to rename sun cream a 'health product' A campaign led by ASDA aims to reposition sun cream as an essential health product, and not a 'luxury.' Asda are blaming part of the reason we don't use enough sun cream (and report 100,000 cases of skin cancer in the UK every year) on the fact that it's still labelled a 'luxury.' Not only does that send the wrong message to the consumer they say, it also means higher prices as the current UK tax law slams a 20 per cent VAT on all luxury goods. "Sixty per cent of people in the UK state that they find sun protection products overpriced," explained Asda in a statement, who aren't surprised by the recent YouGov piece of research revealing how over half of us not only wear sun protection well passed its use-by-date (so much so that it is actually unusable, offering a fraction of its original protection) we also don't reapply it enough. Supported by the British Skin Foundation, the supermarket chain has decided to launch its 'Don't Get Burnt' campaign, to lobby the government on reducing VAT and reposition sunscreen as an essential health product. "We want to raise awareness of the importance of skin protection and champion low cost, high quality sunscreen this summer," say Asda, because as media medic, Dr Dawn Harper worryingly points out, "Brits need to take sun protection seriously. Malignant melanoma is the fastest rising common cancer in the UK and is particularly high in younger people. To mark the launch of its new campaign, and raise awareness for the petition, Asda sent beacon red bikini clad models to protest in front of the Houses of Parliament on College Green. "We are committed to keeping customers protected for less," says the supermarket chain, and if you are too and want to sign the petition you'll find it here. The Don't Get Burnt Campaign petitioners outside Parliament. By the end of this summer, around 1,250 people in the UK will die from skin cancer. But what people often don't realise is that skin cancer is largely a preventable disease," commented British Skin Foundation spokesperson, Hermione Lawson, and as Asda so rightly say, "our customers should not compromise their family's health because of a price tag."