and Aids in Fighting the Risk of Skin Cancer
Educating and Informing the Public on this Solution
The Importance of Sunscreen Solutions in New Zealand
New Zealand is a country with an adequate amount of sunshine fairly well spread both in terms of seasons as well as geography. Even winters are relatively bright and most cities in New Zealand recieve more than 2000 hours of bright sunshine in year. With every passing year, the ozone layer of the earth gets depleted, thus enabling the passage of UV rays that are known to affect the skin in multiple ways including premature aging, skin cancers as well as other problems (WHO Int, 2014). This builds the case for sunscreen pills, specially developed for blocking UV rays and protecting against skin cancers.
It is common knowledge that sunscreen lotions are not a 100% effective in their task since most of them are not waterproof and they don’t protect areas where they have not been applied. On the other hand, these pills are not only more effective since they are taken internally, but also safe to consume since they are derived from natural products with virtually very low quantities of chemical compounds. On a regular basis, these pills will provide enhanced protection to the skin since these will be consumed internally as against the lotions that are only applied on the outer layer of the skin.
Public Awareness
The challenge now lies in spreading awareness in the public domain. We propose a number of ways in which this can be done. First and foremost, we are planning to approach the Government of New Zealand with a proposal to make these pills available at most health centres, clinics and pharmacies. We have already filed proposals with ‘Medsafe’ and other regional bodies to get these pills certified with a high safety rating. Currently, preliminary tests have begun to reveal that these pills have no side effects.
Our next step would be to approach investors, non-government bodies and such other parties who would be willing to aid us in marketing these pills to the general public. The idea in doing so would also be that people who are regular sunscreen users would then be weaned away from the lotion segment to these pills.
The final thrust would be to embark on a dedicated marketing campaign at sport venues, beach resorts, parks and any such locations where activities are generally carried out in the bright sun. General awareness will be propagated by means of handouts, listing on social media websites as well as awareness campaigns conducted in public places. These awareness initiatives will be a step by step procedure that will be implemented in phases, since an aggressive campaign will also require a huge amount of funds. So the idea would be start the product publicity on a passive basis and move on to an aggressive campaign eventually, once sale of the pills start gathering pace.
In conclusion, it becomes imperative that better sunscreen solutions be introduced to counter the increasing effects of UV radiation on our health and well being. These pills are a definite improvement over the lotions which are not only messy, but also somewhat inconvenient to carry around compared to a strip of pills. Although currently, lotions may be used along with the pills for additional protection, we are optimistic that in the future would develop these pills in a manner that would make them more effective, thus rendering lotions obsolete. The most important point would be that this would be a pill developed exclusively in New Zealand and will be an innovation that our country could get credit for.
References
WHO Int (2014). Stratospheric ozone depletion, UV radiation and health. Retrieved from WHO http://www.who.int/globalchange/ozone_uv/en/
Gavura, S. (2008, July 8). Sunscreen in a Pill? Retrieved from http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/sunscreen-in-a-pill/
