WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT OXYBENZONE

While your chosen sunscreen brand probably does a fairly good job of protecting your skin from the harmful effects of the sun, it may well be toxic to the environment. Indeed, key public officers in Hawaii spent the better part of 2017 debating and lobbying for a ban on certain sunscreen brands. The brands in question contain a UV-filtering ingredient called oxybenzone.

THE LINK BETWEEN OXYBENZONE, SUNSCREEN AND CORAL REEFS

According to various published media sources and respected scientific journals, even in tiny quantities, the ingredient oxybenzone can poison the algae that symbiotically support the coral reefs in oceans. These invertebrate animals in turn support the algae gardens that photosynthesise food from sunlight. This process provides 90% of the coral’s food.