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Hawaii bans sunscreens to save endangered corals

Hawaii bans sunscreens to save endangered corals

In an attempt to combat few elements causing harm to the coral reef systems, Hawaii became the first state in the United States and the first state in the world to pass a legislation banning sunscreen carrying few harmful chemicals. According to the reports, the bill was passed on Friday, it will take effect starting January 01, 2021 and once it is in effect, the law will ban the usage of two chemicals namely Oxybenzone and Octinoxate which are two of the most popular chemicals used in manufacturing sunscreens.

Once the ban is in effect, some 3,500 sunscreen products containing these chemicals will be ban for people coming for vacations in Hawaii as well as the local people. According to David Ige, Governor of Hawaii, people with medically prescribed sunscreen containing these two chemicals will only be allowed to use these sunscreens while others will have to switch to alternatives that don’t contains these two harmful substances that have adverse effect on the coral reef systems in Hawaii which is one of the reefs around the world currently under scrutiny after some of the biggest reef system such as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia reported loss of corals due to the increasing sea temperature and climate change.

Ige further stated that Hawaii is blessed with exotic, indigenous and some of the beautiful natural resources which are fragile and any interference caused by these chemicals and other man-made products and waste has an adverse impact on the natural resources and the environment as a whole. The ban will be effective from January 01, 2021, thus impacting more than 3,500 sunscreen products available today.

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