Earlier this year, Hawaii State Senator Will Espero introduced a bill that would ban the sale of sunscreens containing oxybenzone, as they are believed to be harmful to coral reefs.
The waters that bathe the eight Hawaiian islands contain more than 410,000 corals, occupying a larger size than the third island of the American state. Due to their geographic isolation, there are species of corals that are only found there, so preserving it is of great importance for biodiversity.
Will Espero has launched the bill since several articles have come to the conclusion - especially one published in 2015 in the journal Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, led by Craig Downs of the Environmental Laboratory Haereticus in Virginia - that the Oxybenzone is toxic to symbiotic algae living inside corals, which in addition to giving a characteristic color are key in the proportion of oxygen and in the disposal of waste.
When algae die, corals take on a whiter tone, a serious indication that they are devoid of oxygen and full of debris, and the coral struggles to survive. In addition, ironically, oxybenzone is more toxic to this flora when exposed to sunlight.
When coral cells are exposed to oxybenzone, their DNA is damaged and they cause harmful mutations: they harden structures of young corals, for example. In addition, it does not need much amount to be harmful: six drops of sunscreen in a quantity of water similar to an Olympic sized pool is enough to begin to kill the corals; And, according to Craig Downs, the sea takes between 6,000 and 14,000 tons of sun protection every year.
Coral reefs are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world; Are the nursery of about a quarter of the world's fish, and more than one billion people depend on them for their livelihoods. An economic review by the US Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2013 found that these reefs in Hawaii earned the state more than $ 356 million in revenue annually from tourism.