Hawaii officially bans Sunscreen ingredient Oxybenzone

On May 4, after a group of researchers from Israel and the United States discovered coral bleaching in locations in Hawaii and Eilat and the Caribbean, the Hawaiian legislature passed a ban on the use of sunscreen ingredient oxybenzone (BP3).

According to a new law signed by Governor Dave Ige in 2021, sunscreens containing this chemical will be banned because only one drop of material will cause the coral to fade.

Since the passage of the Hawaii bill, the European Union has tried a similar ban and may now gain traction.

BP-3 is used in more than 3,500 personal care products sold worldwide to prevent the damaging effects of UV light.

The Israeli-U.S. survey results were originally published in October 2015 in the “Environmental Pollution and Toxicology Archive” and reported by ISRAEL 21c, which shows that oxybenzone from swimmer skin, municipal sewage discharge and coastal septic tank systems can contaminate coral reefs .

“We have found that oxybenzone causes severe morphological abnormalities, DNA damage and endocrine disruptions that lead to coral closure and death,” said Prof.

Ariel Kushmaro and Stella Goldstein-Goren at the Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory at the Ben Grevien University in Avgaff. Department of Bioengineering.

Kushmaro added: “We are pleased to see that our study will have a measurable impact on the reduction of coral reef communities caused by chemicals, waste runoff and climate change.”

Up to 14,000 tons of sunscreen lotion is discharged into coral reefs every year, most of which contain 1-10% oxybenzone.

The authors estimate that at least 10% of global coral reefs are at high risk this year, which is based on the distribution of coral reefs in coastal tourism areas.

Corals in danger

According to the study, the concentration of oxybenzone was observed in seawater in coral reefs in Hawaii and the US Virgin Islands as low as 62 parts per million, which is equivalent to a drop of water in six semi-Olympic swimming pools, reaching up to 1 million. From 800 to 1 millionth of a million, it is 12 times more than the coral needs.

The study found that oxybenzone is a phototoxic agent that accompanies the adverse effects and exacerbates the light. But even in the dark, lobular corals (larval corals) have changed from moving to deformed immobile states, and as the concentration of oxybenzone increases, coral bleaching speeds up.

Scientists said that this is particularly important in areas facing large-scale bleaching events, including Hawaii and Israel’s Eilat resort in the Red Sea.

Kushmaro said: “In Israel, sunscreens using benzophenone chemicals are widely used.

“According to the measurements not included in the study, similar concentrations of benzophenone were found near the coral reef in Eilat.

Since these chemicals are likely to be washed away from the swimmer’s body, swimming and snorkelling areas The concentration will be higher, such as the coral reef reserve in Eilat. ”

In addition to Kushmaro, Israelis involved in the study of the impact of BP3 on corals included Esti Kramarsky-Winter, Yona Lichtenfeld and Rina Jeger of BGU; Prof. Yossi Loya, Professor Roee Segal and Prof. Omri Bronstein from the Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University.

American marine scientists from the University of Hawaii, the National Aquarium of the United States, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States, the Haereticus Environmental Laboratory and the University of Central Florida also participated in the study.