Solutions

What can you do to ensure that your sunscreen is safe for the marine environment and coral reefs?
• Use a sunscreen that does not have the ingredients shown to damage coral.
• Use a sunscreen that is 'water resistant' or 'very water resistant'. This helps it to stay on your body and out of the water.
• Use a sunscreen that has been tested biodegradable. Although this indicates that the product will break down over time, it does not, on its own, make a sunscreen 'reef safe'. Sunscreens biodegrade over a period of 60-90 days, whereas the Danovaro study showed complete coral bleaching in just a few days. Furthermore, this claim is largely under-regulated, so you may need to contact the company to verify.
• 'Reef Safe' claims on sunscreen labels are unregulated and therefore potentially meaningless. You really have to look at the ingredients, consider the science, and judge for yourself.

Note: There is actually a "Reef Safe" test that can be performed on sunscreens, and we looked into it, but they test on fish, not on coral. We chose to forego this test because it does not study the effects on coral.

Issues

Coral Reefs Bleached by Sunscreen



Info about Coral Reefs
- Most diverse ecosystems in the world
- Biologically productive
- Provides food protein for billions of people

What is being damaged in the coral reefs?
- Zooxanthellae
- Algae that lives in the coral tissue
- It provides nutrients to the coral through photosynthesis
- When the zooxanthellae leaves the color in the reefs is diminished

What in sunscreen is killing he coral reefs?
- Paraben
- Cinnamate- UV filters
- Benzophenone- UV filters
- Camphor- UV filters

How long does it take to occur?
- Within a few hours
- Always within four days
- In amounts as small as 10uL/L

Where is the sunscreen coming from?
- Swimmers in the ocean
- 4,000-6,000 metric tons of sunscreen that wash off on an annual basis.

Problems

-four common parts of sunscreen have been found to reactivate former viruses in coral reef species
-the chemicals in sunscreen cause the viruses to replicate, eventually causing the algae to explode
-the viruses then spill into the ocean water and come into contact with other coral organisms
-4,000 to 6,000 metric tons of sunscreen wash off swimmers
-even low levels of sunscreen could bleach the coral in 4 days
-a very small dose of sunscreen is as dangerous as a high amount of exposure
-to reduce swimmers effects of coral reefs they should use sunscreens with physical filters, which reflect instead of absorb ultraviolet radiation; and use eco-friendly chemical sunscreens.Use sunscreens with physical filters, which reflect instead of absorb ultraviolet radiation; and use eco-friendly chemical sunscreens.


Four common sunscreen ingredients were shown to cause complete coral bleaching within a few days, even at very low concentrations (33 parts per million). They are:
• Oxybenzone (benzophenone-3) – Sunscreen with several suspected human health effects.
• Butylparaben - Preservative with several suspected human health effects.
• Octinoxate (Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate) - Sunscreen with several suspected human health effects.
• 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4MBC) - Sunscreen with several suspected human health effects. Allowed in Europe and Canada, not in USA or Japan.
Up to 10% of the world's coral reefs may be threatened by sunscreen induced coral bleaching.


-25 percent of sunscreen applied runs into the water within 20 minutes


-tourists who wear sunscreen may be contributing the death of the Great Barrier Reef
-10% of coral reefs are threatened by bleaching caused by chemicals found in sunscreen
-a quarter of coral reefs are in immediate danger of collapsing due to human effects