In 2018 Gov. David Ige signed SB 2571, Act 104 — prohibiting the sale, offer of sale, and distribution of sunscreens that contain the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate in Hawai'i, beginning Jan. 1, 2021. The purpose of this law is to preserve marine ecosystems, including coral reefs in Hawaii.

After this legislation passed another bill was proposed in the 2020 session, SB 2278/HB2248. This bill if passed would have restricted the sale of sunscreens with anything other than those deemed safe for the coral reef as well as human health in the state. Under this legislation, only zinc oxide and titanium dioxide sunscreens would be allowed to be sold in Hawai‘i, as these are the only two ingredients that are recognized as “safe and effective” by the FDA. The other 14 chemicals the bills cover include ones commonly listed in many commercial sunscreens sold on store shelves, including homosalate, octisalate, octocrylene, and avobenzone.

Bill HB2248 passed the house and senate but UNFORTUNATELY died in committee. See the full committee report here: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2020/CommReports/HB2248_HD1_HSCR199-20_.htm

“We always knew there were other sunscreen chemicals threatening our coral reefs,” said Sen. Mike Gabbard, who introduced the 2018 bill. “In 2018, when we got Act 104 passed, we only had sound science on oxybenzone and octinoxate. Now we have the FDA directive. We know it’s time to move forward with the other 14 chemicals.”

The FDA has determined that zinc oxide and titanium dioxide belong to Category I, or generally regarded as safe and effective.

Gabbard said scientific studies now show chemicals in sunscreen may have harmful impacts on human health, including uterine diseases in women, breast cancer, and Hirschsprung disease among infants.

Since we could not get the necessary legislation to pass at a state level, we focused on county by county. Effective October 1st, 2022 Maui County passed bill 135 which states that only mineral-based sunscreen will be allowed to be sold, distributed, or USED in Maui County. Big Island County Council followed suit and passed bill 167 which took effect on December 1st, 2022. Unfortunately, Hawaii county deleted the word “use” so people can still bring chemical sunscreens to Big Island and use them. We, the Coral Reef Education Institute will continue to fight the good fight to ban chemical sunscreens across the Hawaiian Islands.

Mahalo for you Kokua of our Hawaiian Corals