Hawaii bans sunscreen ingredient oxybenzone after a group of researchers from the United State and Israel discovers coral bleaching.
A new piece of legislation signed into law by Dave Ige will ban sunscreen from use in Hawaii if it contains oxybenzone. Just one drop of sunscreen containing the material may cause coral to fade – driving home how dangerous the substance is for organisms that are already being threatened.
After the passing of the Hawaii bill, the European Union is already taking steps to ban oxybenzone from sunscreen themselves – and the recent signing may help the legislation gain traction.
Oxybenzone, also known as BP-3, is used in more than 3500 personal care products that are being sold worldwide in order to protect from damage from UV light. While it may be good for the health of our skin, it…
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Exposing the Big Game 
I find it hard to believe that companies make products without a thought about what they do to the environment. Plastic microbeads in cosmetics is another one – no redeemable purpose at all, and they are getting through filters and into the waters of the Great Lakes, and its fish. 😦
Personally, though I have no doubt of its toxicity, sunscreen seems a less likely coral-killing culprit than global warming…
It may enter the waters and pollute the waters where coral live directly tho – beaches and oceans.
True.
Here’s an article about safer for coral sunscreen. Clearly, it states that pollution is the direct cause. I don’t know what one would use, zinc oxide? You can get quite a sunburn in HI – I remember being warned repeatedly – and had my arm out of the car window and had quite a burn after.
http://www.travelandleisure.com/style/beauty/reef-safe-sunscreen
Speaking of HI, I remember visiting Volcanoes National Park and seeing Mt. Kilauea – what a beautiful, and awesome (in the true sense of the word) to behold. We couldn’t get closer than a mile to view her, and there was ash flying around and getting on my glasses. Lava building new land.