There may also be as many as 82, kinds of chemicals from personal care products that have made their way into the world's oceans, according to a report by Marine Life , a marine conservation NGO. And one of the biggest and most permanent contributors to this massive pollution is sunscreen. In , it was estimated that around 14, tons of sunscreen are ending up in the world's coral reefs per year and causing irreparable damage. That wasn't global warming. It's pollution," says Dr.
Craig A. Downs, Ph. So what makes sunscreen so deadly to coral reefs? A few years ago, after testing more than 50 sunscreen brands, Dr. Downs and his team started looking at specific chemicals and discovered that oxybenzone and octinoxate are the main culprits. The reason they are so widely used in sunscreen is that they absorb the harmful UV rays. Oxybenzone, for example, is toxic in four different ways: it causes damage to the DNA that may lead to cancer and developmental abnormalities, it is an endocrine disruptor, it causes deformations in juvenile corals, and, lastly, it leads to bleaching.
Related: More beach must-haves. Downs points out that certain preservatives found in sunscreens are also toxic: parabens such as the commonly used methyl paraben and butyl paraben, or phenoxyethanol, which was originally used as a mass fish anesthetic. And it turns out that we aren't just seeing the devastating damage in our oceans, but tasting it, as well. While Dr. Downs was on a working visit at the Bahamas, he was talking to a government employee at dinner who shared how much he liked the coconut flavor of the local fish they were dining on.
That is a chemical fragrance. It's a nasty, long-lasting fragrance that will accumulate in organisms and so we were tasting it in the fish," Dr. Downs explained. Enter Supergoop! We're also obsessed with Supergoop's Unseen Sunscreen! Badger's Clear Zinc Sunscreen Cream contains only four ingredients: zinc oxide, sunflower oil, beeswax and vitamin E.
It's hypoallergenic and fragrance-free, making it suitable for all skin types. It also rubs in clear to blend with most skin tones. Made for melanated skin, this broad-spectrum sunscreen dries clear, leaving no white residue behind. It's water-resistant for up to 80 minutes and is infused with jojoba and avocado, making it the perfect moisturizing lotion that's as lightweight as it is protective.
Besides offering broad-spectrum protection using a non-nano formula, this mineral sunscreen by ThinkSport absorbs easily with a non-greasy feel and is water-resistant for up to 80 minutes. We also read peer-reviewed papers on how sunscreen affects sea life.
In particular, some sunscreen ingredients can help viruses destroy corals faster, leading to bleaching, according to a paper published by Roberto Danovaro and colleagues. The reefs most vulnerable to sunscreen damage are those in highly trafficked areas without a lot of water turnover, like coastal reefs or atolls circular reef structures left behind after an island sinks , the authors of the paper note.
Some such locations and guided tours may even require reef-safe sunscreen. As reported in The New York Times, both Hawaii and Key West, Florida, voted to ban the sale of sunscreens containing two ingredients found to be harmful to coral: oxybenzone and octinoxate.
The laws took effect January 1, Hawaii's state parks urge beachgoers to forgo certain ingredients , and a chain of hotels in Hawaii provides guests with complimentary reef-safe sunscreen. In Mexico, federal regulation requires use of reef-safe sunscreen in a handful of protected areas.
More people are choosing to be as cautious as possible and use reef-safe sunscreen all the time, and not just for reef safety. However, no sunscreen is foolproof when it comes to sea-life safety. Though good reef-safe sunscreens avoid ingredients that have been clearly demonstrated to cause damage to reefs in large doses, they may still contain trace amounts of the offending substances.
Plus, scientists disagree about whether the replacement ingredients are actually safe for sea life. Beyond that, reef-safe sunscreens are generally pricier and harder to rub in than their chemical and combination counterparts , making them potentially trickier to use on a daily basis to best protect your skin from UV rays.
In October , Haereticus Environmental Laboratory executive director Craig Downs set out to create a reef-safe sunscreen label to affix to sunscreens that passed a toxicity test in his lab. But as the applications and samples from companies rolled in, he found that even sunscreens that met the mark in theory contained impurities and unlisted ingredients that have been known to cause damage to reefs.
Part of this rift may be that they are operating under different regulations: Europe where Danovaro is based has more UV blockers available than the US. The best thing you can do for corals and skin alike is to cover up with protective clothing as much as possible. Danovaro said he wears a T-shirt while snorkeling. Once an FDA-approved sunscreen passed the requirements for being reef safe r , we considered the following factors:. Be sure to use micro-sized or non-nano mineral sunscreens to avoid nanoparticles, as these smaller particles can be toxic in high concentrations.
Finally, it's always good to use products that cut back on single use plastic packaging , either by using containers that are reusable, have high recycled content or are made out of biodegradable plant-based materials like cardboard. Check the label!
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