Reef Safe Sunscreen

What makes a sunscreen reef safe?

How to Choose a Reef Safe Sunscreen

Make sure to always only use a water resistant, mineral-based sunscreen!!!

WHY? The sunscreen that washes off your body when swimming may affect aquatic life. Some commonly used chemical sunscreen ingredients cause coral bleaching and may be affecting coral reefs.

Raw Love reef safe sunscreen does not use any of these damaging ingredients in our sunscreens so they are safe for coral reefs and you.

Coral Reef Research & News

You may have read that sunscreens can damage coral in such news stories as “Sunscreen Killing off Coral” by National Geographic and “Sunscreen Wipes Out Corals” by NatureNews. These and all other reports of the sunscreen/coral connection were based on one prominent scientific study by Roberto Danovaro and his colleagues at the Marche Polytechnic University in Ancona, Italy. Their paper, Sunscreens Cause Coral Bleaching by Promoting Viral Infections, was published in the peer reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives in 2008.

Each year between 4000-6000 metric tons (4400-6600 US tons) of sunscreen washes off swimmers and snorkelers into coral reef environments. Four common sunscreen ingredients were shown to cause complete coral bleaching at very low concentrations.

AVOID THE 4 REEF-HARMFUL SUNSCREEN INGREDIENTS:

  • 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.

Other factors such as global warming, pollution, and human activities are likely a far greater threat to coral reefs than sunscreens. However, that is not a reason to ignore the results of this research. There has been limited criticism of this study but it is good peer-reviewed science, and the results should be taken seriously.

What’s in Raw Love?

Reef Safe Sunscreen Ingredients

  • Cold Pressed Unrefined Coconut Oil

  • Raw Shea Butter

  • Zinc Oxide (non nano)

  • Sesame Oil

  • Beeswax

  • Jojoba Oil

  • Vitamin E Oil

  • Carrot Seed Oil

  • Pure Essential Oils: Lavender, Peppermint, Eucalyptus

  • LOVE

Choose Reef Safe Sunscreens

Anyone swimming or snorkeling in the tropical ocean near coral should consider using a coral reef safe sunscreen.