Do you love to snorkel in the beautiful bays of West Hawaii? Have you been snorkeling over the last few years and been noticing the decline in fish and degradation of the coral? LUVA Real Estate cares about preserving what makes West Hawaii a special place to visit and call home, so we are letting you know about something you can do to help protect our marine environment when you visit..even if you don’t go into the ocean.
This week, the Hawaii state legislature passed a bill outlawing the sale of two particular chemicals — oxybenzone and octinoxate — found in many sunscreens. The proposed law will now go to the desk of Hawaii’s governor, who can sign the bill into law and enact the ban starting in 2021. But 2021. Really? Can we do better by educating people coming to the island and our residents to alert their family and friends NOW?
Did you know that up to 14,000 tons of sunscreen enter the world’s reefs annually? Those are foreboding statistics from a 2015 paper published in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. Most of it — including products by Aveeno, Banana Boat, Coppertone, Hawaiian Tropic and Neutrogena — contains a chemical called oxybenzone to deflect UV rays.
Even in minute doses, the researchers found, oxybenzone rapidly bleaches coral and slows new growth: A single drop in 4.3 million gallons of water — about six and a half Olympic-size swimming pools — is enough to be deadly.
Our friends at Kahaluu Beach Park are working to make the beach park the first oxybenzone free beach in Hawaii after seeing the effects of sunscreen on the coral there.
In a 2008 study published in Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers applied the recommended amount of sunscreen to volunteers’ hands, then immersed them into plastic bags containing water and coral samples from the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, as well as the Red Sea; the samples were completely bleached within 96 hours.
Octinoxate, octocrylene and other chemicals found in many sunscreen products have been found to be toxic to coral. And you don’t have to be jumping into the ocean with your fins and masks to be part of that destruction. Those convenient aerosol dispensers, which are the bane of most local residents, spew chemicals all across the sand, where the tide scoops them up.
Just think, even if you never buy a plane ticket, your morning shower rinses the oxybenzone from yesterday’s family picnic straight down the drain and, potentially, out to sea. Ditto flushing the toilet, since oxybenzone is detected in urine within 30 minutes of application.
It’s a cruel irony that protecting yourself and your kids from skin cancer has come at such a cost to the ocean. The good news is that there are alternatives. Mineral sunscreens — whose active ingredients are titanium dioxide or zinc oxide — are one option. Some will leave that telltale white cast on your skin, but some do not. Here is a web page with all the reef safe sunscreens.
We also advocate for long-sleeve “rash guards” that surfers wear, so you don’t have to cover your body in sunscreen, just your face and hands. You can pick up a rash guard at our local surf shops in West Hawaii including Pacific Vibrations or larger chain stores such as Target and Wal Mart.
We know most people traveling to Hawaii want to keep the oceans blue, the sand white and the tropical fish abundant. Now that you know about the toxic sunscreen issue, we encourage you to shop wisely and to share this information with others. 2 ½ years is too long to wait to do something about saving our marine environment.
For a copy of the brochure that the Kohala Foundation has created so you can put it in your rental home or share it with your friends, go to http://kohalacenter.org/kbec/reef-friendly-sunscreen
LUVA Real Estate agents are dedicated to protecting the aina and the ocean in Hawaii in whatever way we can by educating and informing our clients and potential clients, as well.