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Sustainable Living: Sunscreens

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This is an important topic and so I want to get the most important things out of the way first:

Chemical sunscreens containing the following ingredients contribute to coral bleaching: 
  • Oxybenzone
  • Octinoxate
  • Octocrylene (used to also stabilize avobenzone)
  • 4-methylbenzylidine camphor
  • Anything containing Parabens
Don't be part of the problem and avoid using them! It's important to note that claims on sunscreens are not regulated and therefore, companies can put the wording "coral reef safe" on the packaging even though they contain the above chemicals. This is misleading if not outright false. Instead use "physical" sun screens that contain non-nanoparticle zink oxide. Physical sun screens differ from chemical sunscreens in that the sit ontop of the skin to reflect or scatter UVA/B rays away from the skin before it reaches it. Chemical sunscreens absorb the UVA/B rays instead to neutralize them.

To be clear, I am not proposing not using sunscreen! Instead use physical sunscreens that use zink oxide. And better yet reduce the use of sunscreen by using UV blocking clothing or - if you are in the water -  rashguards, only applying sunscreen to uncovered areas.

If saving the coral reef is not high on the priority list (which it should), also consider that many of these chemicals are considered endocrine disruptors which have been shown to mess with the bodies hormone system and have been associated with higher rates of all sorts of cancers.

This is an informative video I found:



Now to why I am writing about this today...

I recently spend a week in Maui which is great place. My family and I did many things. One of those activities included a snorkeling trip to Molokini. In preparation for the trip with Pride of Maui, I found out about issues that chemical sun screens are causing and bought zink-based sunscreen as well as rashguards for my wife, my son and myself.

The trip itself was awesome as we got to see lots of sea life but seeing so many people STILL using normal coral-reef-killing, endocrine-disrupting chemical sunscreen was disheartening. To be fair, Pride of Maui did not mention ANYTHING in their preparation instructions about only bringing zink dioxide based sunscreen, so most people not actively looking for this would not know. BUT before entering the ship, the crew did plead with the guests not to use the above mentioned sunscreen. They even offered FREE zink dioxide based sunscreen.

But only about 10% of the crew chose to follow crew instructions by using the provided sunscreen, another 10% already knew about this topic and brought their own sunscreen, the rest gleefully ignored the instructions, thus contributing to the stresses coral reefs already have to deal with.

I am hoping that if you run across this post, you take the message above to heart and make this small change and/or - even better - spread the word about this topic.

The reason: States like Hawaii have recognized the importance of natural resources to the economy and just passed laws that ban the above substances. BUT: these laws are already being challenged by the traditional sunscreen industry (change is always hard). These companies - through spokes organization - confound the topic by saying that these laws will increase the chance of skin cancer as if the laws talk about completely prevent the use of any sunscreen. That is of course completely false (see the note on physical sunscreen and UV-protecting clothing). The laws are great, but they won't go into effect until 2021. If you know that this is an issue, why wait?

Furthermore, these laws won't prevent people from bringing THEIR OWN sunscreen from out-of-state. Many other states and governments have not prioritized this topic. I was talking to a couple from Australia who have heard about the issue that the above mentioned sunscreens cause for the first time on that trip - even though the Great Barrier Reef is one of the most important natural attractions that Australia owns.

For good measure at the end of the post, let me reiterate the take-home message: If you go into the ocean, use UV-protecting clothing to reduce overall sunscreen usage, use zink dioxide based sunscreen for uncovered parts, and spread the word. If you want to know of some specific creams to use, check the images in this post, and the following list:

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