WASHINGTON — With more summertime sunshine comes the need for more sunscreen! But before you lather up that lotion, take a look at the label. Certain chemicals in sunscreen can be pretty harmful to the environment.
Dr. Craig Downs, the Executive Director at Haereticus Environmental Laboratory, tells us what chemicals to avoid.
“Three that you don't want are oxybenzone, octinoxate, and octocrylene,” Dr. Downs said.
These substances are found in most chemical sunscreens. Some brands have started to phase out a few of these chemicals but, they are not completely in the clear yet. Sunscreens that include even one of these chemicals have a negative impact on the environment.
“It's killing seagrasses, it's killing, you know, big type of algae for us, so it's not good at all,” Dr. Downs said.
Let's walk through an example of how your sunscreen ends up harming the environment.
Let’s say you are going to the beach for the day. You find the perfect sandy spot, lather yourself up with chemical sunscreen, and hop in the water. The sunscreen that you painstakingly smeared all over yourself now seeps from your skin into the water.
Now if its just you, it’s a pretty small amount of sunscreen in the water. But what about a beach packed with 5,000 people who all did the exact same thing?
Every. Single. Day.
And it’s not just the beach, these same things apply to rivers, lakes and ponds.
“It affects fish. Oxybenzone causes fish memory loss. These fish lose their memory when they're exposed to oxybenzone and that means they're not able to remember... is that a predator, do I need to stay away from this area? So it has... a possible effect on fish populations," Dr. Downs said.
Spray sunscreen is harmful too. It’s estimated that over 50% of the spray ends up in the environment around you, rather than your skin.
The good news is that there are alternatives you can use! According to Dr. Downs, mineral sunscreen is the way to go!
He said, “Get a mineral sunscreen if you're going to go to the beach, we recommend kind of wearing a UPF clothing.”
Both mineral sunscreen and UPF clothing are widely available and can be found at most big box stores. UPF clothing is a double win for the environment because it is reusable and chemical free.
So, this summer when you stock up on your sunscreen, you can try and be a bit more environmentally friendly by choosing the mineral option.