7 News PerthA young boy from Australia has suffered severe burns after applying Peppa Pig branded sunscreen.
Three-year-old Rivers Jasper was left in agony, screaming in pain and vomiting after his parents applied the sunscreen to his skin while on holiday in Bali.
Rivers’ skin became covered with enormous and painful red blisters and now, the Perth based parents are hoping to warn others about the product, and have posted footage and pictures of their son’s horrific injuries through social media.
The video has been watched over one million times.
7 News PerthPaul and Shannae Jasper say they applied the product to Rivers’ back while in their hotel room in Bali and within a matter of minutes, his skin was reportedly covered with painful burns.
Speaking with 7 News Perth, mother Shannae Jasper discussed the extent of Rivers’ ordeal:
His skin was just really, really tender and red. He was vomiting all the next day.
He’s absolutely petrified now of when we try to put any type of spray, lotion on him, even in the bath.
You can watch the upsetting footage below:
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Although the bottle was about a year old, it hadn’t exceeded it’s expiry date and should have been fit for use.
Even more worryingly, the product had been certified by Australian sun-safety charity, Cancer Council.
This isn’t the sunscreen the family usually wear and they only used it because their preferred product had ran out
Now Shannae says she’s been contacted by over a hundred people who’ve had similar terrifying experiences.
7 News PerthRivers’ father, Paul Jasper, has also spoken out about the incident:
We don’t want to stop supporting The Cancer Council or their product, we just don’t want others kids to go through what we’ve been through.
The Cancer Council, who are now in contact with the Jasper family, have stated their sunscreens are formally approved by the TGA, (Therapeutic Goods Administration) and are tested to the Australian Standard.
They’ve advised, ‘a small proportion of the population do experience sensitivities or allergies’.
Over 2.4 million units of this particular product have been sold.
7 News PerthWriting on a Facebook post, Shannae made the following comment:
We are the parents of Rivers and appreciate all the well wishes for our son.
As for the people who think a patch test is going to fix this, what will happen if we patch tested it along with EVERYONE else who chooses to use the product, the reaction will come up and the same thing will happen, contact the cancer council and the product doesn’t get recalled?
Our son has used at least 5 different types of sunscreen over the years without no reaction so why would we think to do one this time, why should this sunscreen be any different?
As for the people saying put a t-shirt on, these burns were not from the sun, they were from the sunscreen applied in our room.
All we are wanting is to raise awareness that this product is causing huge amounts of reactions in adults and kids and that it should be removed from the shelves to prevent future cases.
SUNSCREEN DANGERA three-year old boy has suffered severe burns after his parents say they applied a Cancer Council…
Posted by 7 News Perth on Friday, 13 October 2017
We wish Rivers a full recovery after this painful ordeal.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.