Are Chemical Sunscreens Banned Where You Are Going?

Recently, we learned that chemical sunscreens are banned in the US Virgin Islands (USVI). We learned this when we registered to take a snorkeling trip on a catamaran to the shores of St. John and Little St. James Islands. We were already on St. Thomas. It would have been helpful to know this beforehand. As they say nowadays, “my bad.”

As an environmental educator, it is bad that I didn’t know the facts about sunscreen use in the Caribbean.

Chemical sunscreens have been around for my entire lifetime. I’m 59, by the way, just to date myself appropriately. From the days of Coppertone and Hawaiian Tropic oils and lotions to more recent companies like Neutrogena and Banana Boat, these products have been used prolifically for decades…by millions, hoping to prevent skin damage.

Little did we know we were damaging something else…ocean life!

Research

Unfortunately, careful research has found that the chemicals in sunscreens are responsible for harming the coral reefs in our oceans. In the article, Skin Care Chemicals and Coral Reefs, the NOAA shared that Oxybenzone or Benzophenone-3, a common ingredient in sunscreen damages our coral reefs leading to bleaching and genetic abnormalities in the coral. Corals are living organisms and thus, are affected by environmental pollutants.

Additionally, the same source, informs us that another chemical, Benzophenone-2, a skincare additive that has been part of product lines since the 1960s also damages the ocean’s reefs.

An NPR article cites this sobering statistic from 2015:

Some 14,000 tons of sunscreen lotions wind up in coral reefs around the world each year!

I imagine, now eight years later, the amount is higher as it seems that more and more people travel to the exotic places that have reefs.

In addition, it must also be recognized that rinsing off after using sunscreen to just sit on the beach and not even enter the water, contributes as well. If you’re a beachgoer, you’ve most likely used a water spigot at the beach to “rinse.” Wastewater has to run somewhere — right?!

Since 2011, and through continuing research, efforts have been made to educate on the effect of chemical sunscreens containing the 0’s, including the chemicals, oxybenzone, octinoxate, octisalate, and octocrylene.

These chemicals not only hurt the reefs but also our bodies, staying in our system for weeks after use. It seems chemical sunscreens are not good for living organisms in general, and that includes, humans! (Source)

The science of ingredient toxicity

Oxybenzone has on our reefs. The author of the linked article from 2015 suggested at that time, already many years ago, that serious damage is being done to our reefs from chemical sunscreens and suggested something be done about it.

“The use of oxybenzone-containing products needs to be seriously deliberated in islands and areas where coral reef conservation is a critical issue,” co-author Craig Downs said according to the Washington Post.

What’s Been Done?

Several states and locations around the world have banned sunscreens containing oxybenzone and similar chemicals. The places that have banned sunscreens containing harmful chemicals are:

Hawaii — as of January 1, 2021

Key West — as of January 1, 2021

Palau — January 1, 2020 (first nation to ban a list of ten ingredients found in common sunscreens).

Bonaire — January 1, 2020

Aruba — July 2020

USVI — March 2020

Parts of Mexico — In Xel-Ha, a popular tourist area in Rivera Maya, you can swap out your sunscreen for a reef-safe variety and get yours back when you leave (Source). Xel -Ha, a place we snorkeled in 1992, was well ahead of the pack with bans because you had to use special sunscreens there as long ago as when we visited. Perhaps their swap-it-out system will catch on in other places!

Many of these places, such as Aruba have additional bans in place on things that harm the environment such as straws and plastic bags. Others, like the USVI, ban the import, sale, and distribution of any sunscreens that do not meet the criteria of being chemically free of reef-damaging ingredients.

My advice?

Do a little research and know before you go! The list above is not exhaustive. Hopefully, more and more locations will ban chemical sunscreens. The only way to know for sure is to find out before you leave for vacation.

New Findings

A 2109 update to sunscreen safety by the FDA, noted that only Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide were noted safe as the active ingredient in sunscreens. But one should not that these are classified as barrier sunscreens, not chemical ones.

Also, one should read the ingredient list on sunscreens and be familiar with what is considered harmful to the environment instead of just trusting a brand that says it’s “reef safe” — it might still contain harmful chemicals. YOU, as the traveler, are responsible for knowing.

Are the bans enough?

As an environmental educator and proponent of “knowing” I’m not sure the bans are enough — we saw several people on our snorkel trip — out to the reefs surrounding St. John and Little St. John islands — still use chemical sunscreens even though they’d been warned by the day trip operators via a personal email after registration for the trip.

Should places run informative media on your flight into exotic places than contain reefs?

Should one be “inspected” to see what kind of sunscreen is being “brought in” much like Hawaii inspects for plants and produce?

I don’t know the answer. I only know non-approved sunscreens are still being used. If you think your personal one-day use of chemically based sunscreens won’t matter, think again! One of the articles linked and/or cited in this post contains information about how little (a drop) it takes to bleach coral.

Environmental educators are not supposed to tell people what to think, we are supposed to provide information and let the masses decide for themselves what the right thing is to do.

It appears that most are disregarding the provided information. I hope I’m wrong about this, but from what I observed, I don’t think I am. We need to do more to protect our oceans and ocean life. If you agree, then you need to observe these chemical sunscreen bans — it's something you can do to help the reefs and yourself, too!

Here are some additional resources:

Science News (2022). How some sunscreens damage coral reefs.

Ocean Conservancy. Hard Coral.

Below is a link to a list of approved, reef-safe sunscreens from the USVI. We used the list below to guide our choice of sunscreen use during the snorkel trip and entering the ocean in the USVI territories.

Green Island Living. Approved Sunscreen List. (2021).

This story was originally published today on my Medium.com page under a different title.