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It has become clear that sunscreen is another modern invention that benefits humans while wreaking havoc on the delicate balance of a part of the natural world. In this case, the victim is a coral reef.
Oxybenzone is the main active ingredient in most sunscreens, and it is deadly for baby corals. Now Hawaii, the tropical state of the United States that has a lot of coral and anti-solar tourists, is taking the unprecedented step of banning the chemical, along with octinoxate, another protective ingredient common solar. Legislative action would prohibit over-the-counter sales of more than 3,500 sun protection products currently available in stores.
The state legislature passed the ban in May, and David Ige, the governor of Hawaii, was expected to sign into law this week. The ban will only take effect on January 1, 2021. Subsequently, residents and visitors to Hawaii will not be able to purchase a sunscreen containing oxybenzone or octinoxate that 39, with a prescription from their doctor.
About one-fifth of the world's coral reefs have died in the last three years. As Vox points out, climate change is still the main reason why coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate. But water pollution – including some 14,000 tonnes of sunscreen slipping on swimmers' skin and coral reefs every year – is pushing back the already weakened coral systems.
In 2015, a team of scientists discovered that oxybenzone acted as a hormonal disruptor for baby coral, and damaged their DNA. "It causes strange malformations in the soft tissues and also causes the coral larvae to lock itself into its own skeleton, into its own casket," said Craig Downs, director of Haereticus Environmental Laboratory and one authors of the 2015 study, Guardian at the time
While the sunscreen industry groups have expressed contempt for the Hawaii bill, there are other ways to prevent damage from sun and skin cancer. A range of mineral products (titanium dioxide or zinc oxide), sunscreens approved by the US Food and Drug Administration are widely available. In addition, there are many chemical sunscreens that contain neither oxybenzone nor octinoxate
Tags ban coralbased Hawaii octinoxate oxybenzone Quartz sunscreens
