Reef-Toxic Sunscreen Blocked

By Jack Kiyonaga | Community Reporter
Starting Oct. 1, Maui County is banning the sale, usage and distribution of nonmineral sunscreen. Only sunscreen with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as active ingredients will be allowed. The ordinance, which was passed last year, is an effort to lead actions to protect reefs from environmental degradation. A historically significant move, this sunscreen ban is the first of its kind in the U.S.
The chemicals found in many mainstream sunscreens can wash off our bodies and into the ocean, causing bleaching to coral, decreased reproduction to fish and accumulation in the tissues of many kinds of marine life, according to scientists.…