Hawaii Just Passed A Bill Banning Harsh Sunscreens To Preserve Coral Reefs

Around 14,000 tons of sunscreen is deposited into oceans annually, according to The New York Times. On Tuesday, Hawaii became the first U.S. state to ban SPF with ingredients deemed harmful to coral reefs.

The bill, which becomes effective Jan. 1, 2021, focuses specifically on banning sunscreens with two chemicals, oxybenzone and octinoxate, both known to cause damage to coral reefs and other marine life. The bill provides the chemicals have “been shown to degrade corals’ resiliency and ability to adjust to climate change factors and inhibit recruitment of new corals.” According to the BBC, the chemicals are used in over 3,500 sunscreen products.

Why is this important to you? Coral reefs are not only critical to sustaining ocean life (i.e. they protect a lot of fish that you love consuming), they act as a natural barrier against storms (i.e. they basically protect your beach from eroding — think dunes but only in the water).

So what SPFs keep coral reefs safe? Physical blockers (aka sunscreens) that contain zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.