The Truth About Reef-Safe Sunscreens

By Kailey Armstrong

There isn’t a cloud in the sky. The sun is warm and bright, enveloping your body in a blanket of comfort and relaxation. Remembering the regular lectures from your mother about skin cancer, you reach for the bottle of sunscreen in your bag.

As the summer months are approaching and temperatures rise, students are flocking to stores in search of beach towels, swimsuits and most importantly sunblock.

With younger generations becoming more involved with environmental issues and climate change, many people have noticed this new label: “Reef-safe.”

The Haereticus Environmental Laboratory (HEL) has published a list of ingredients to avoid in sunscreen, which include microplastics, nanoparticles, oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor, octocrylene, para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), parabens (methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, benzyl), triclosan.

HEL says on their website that they are “a non-profit, scientific organization whose mission is to conserve wildlife and ecosystems.”

According to the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD), oxybenzone, octocrylene, octinoxate and ethylhexyl salicylate have proven difficult to remove from water sources across the world.

“Oxybenzone has been implicated specifically as a possible contributor to coral reef bleaching,” according to the January 2019 article from the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology.

Additionally, it says that “4-methylbenzylidene camphor, oxybenzone, octocrylene, and octinoxate have been identified in various species of fish worldwide, which has possible consequences for the food chain.”

Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) conducted a study and published a press release in October 2018, saying that, “chemicals can cause abnormalities in and kill the offspring of zebrafish by entering the food chain. As the genetic structure of zebrafish resembles that of humans, the results imply that these contaminants could pose a risk to humans"

With so much ambiguity surrounding the “reef-safe” label, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of choices in stores. Luckily, there is a more dependable certification to look for.

The Protect Land + Sea certification requires products to be tested by HEL to ensure that they do not contain any ingredients listed above.

Additionally, certification only lasts for two years. This ensures that products can be tested for any new ingredients from the list.

Brands that possess this certification include Olen, Stream2Sea, Badger, and Tropic. When we compared the prices of Neutrogena these four natural sunscreens to the prices of four popular drugstore sunscreens, there was a significant difference.

Of the brands highlighted, there was an average cost difference of about 70.5%, meaning the PL&S certified sunscreens cost that much more than the drugstore brands. Badger sunscreen can be purchased at health food stores such as Whole Foods and Fresh Thyme.