Palau, In Western Pacific, Is First Nation To Ban 'Reef-Toxic' Sunscreens: NPR

The Pacific archipelago of Palau has become one of the first nations in the world, and some researchers believe that they are killing coral reefs and damaging marine environments.

In a law pbaded this week, Palau defines the banned "reef-toxic" sunscreens as containing any of 10 chemicals, including oxybenzone and octinoxate, which are found in the majority of US sunscreens, according to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. .

The nation of over 500 islands and around 21,000 people in the Micronesia region of the western Pacific Ocean has its main economic driver.

Retailers who break the face of $ 1,000.

"This short but important bill has the potential to make a lasting impact on the environment," President Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr., wrote in a letter accompanying the legislation. "As more and more people come to visit our pristine paradise with their own eyes, we can not relinquish our responsibility for these islands."

Remengesau's spokesman, Olkeriil Kazuo, told NPR a big impetus for this report, which is a report from the Coral Reef Research Foundation, which found widespread toxins in Jellyfish Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage website and highly popular tourist attraction.

The report recommends that visitors immediately switch to "more biologically friendly" sunscreen products.

Kazuo says that Palau will immediately stop importing reef-toxic sunscreen, but that retailers have until 2020, when the law actually goes into effect, to sell their remaining inventory.

According to a 2015 study by researchers at the University of Central Florida, oxybenzone poses a hazard to coral reef conservation by sapping coral of nutrients and bleaching it white.

"Any small effort to reduce oxybenzone pollution could mean that a long time coral reef, hot summer, or a degraded area recovers," the study's researcher Craig Downs said in a news release.

"With the rise in skin cancer rates and the availability of such active micronized zinc oxide and titanium dioxide," a study with similar findings notes, "serious doubts about the relative prevention benefit of personal care products containing oxybenzone must be raised. "

Hawaii pbaded legislation similar to Palau's this year that goes into effect in 2021.

The CHPA called Hawaii's law has a severe compromise to the "health, safety and welfare" of the state's residents and tourists.

As NPR has previously reported, "There are so many of these products that they do not contain octahydroxide or octinoxate, with more working their way to the market."