Looking for a reef-safe sunscreen? Ask a surfer
Sunscreen is doing serious damage to our oceans, but there are ways to help curb it. (Photo/Getty)
Popular ingredients in SPF products are harming the beaches we love—here’s what you can do to help.
Maui’s Honolua Bay is a water worshipper's holy place, drawing snorkelers and scuba divers in the warmer months, and surfers waiting for a life-changing swell when winter comes. But look carefully. Beyond the spot’s wild beauty, you’ll notice something else: a sheen of sunscreen coating the water’s surface.
It’s an ominous reminder of the 14,000 tons of sunblock bleeding into the global coral reef system every year. And there’s damage beneath the surface: Research shows that ingredients in some forms of popular sunblock, one called oxybenzone in particular, can lead to fatal coral reef bleaching. Some studies suggest one drop is enough to do damage.
To understand the issue at hand, though, you have to first understand a bit about sunscreen in general—and how it has an impact on marine life.
Sunscreen 101
Sunblock comes in two forms: chemical and physical blockers. Chemical sunscreens work like chemical sponges, says Melissa Levin, M.D., a dermatologist at Marmur Medical in New York City. They convert and neutralize ultraviolet light radiation, protecting you from damage, she says. Physical blockers, on the other hand, act like a shield. “They sit on the skin’s surface and actually reflect the sun’s rays like a mirror would reflect light.”
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