In an effort to save its at-risk coral reefs, Hawaii has become the first state to pass a law banning specific sunscreen products.
为了拯救夏威夷濒危的珊瑚礁，夏威夷州成为美国首个对特定防晒产品颁布禁令的州。
The new law prohibits the sale and distribution of sunscreens containing the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate. Scientists have found that these chemicals, when washed off the skin and into the ocean, can cause coral
bleaching1.
Coral reefs are fragile, yet vital, parts of the world's
ecosystems2, and they support the highest
marine3 biodiversity in the world. Reefs are also essential to more than half a billion people who depend on them for food, jobs and recreation - with an estimated economic impact of $375 billion a year.
As early as the 1990s, scientists have examined the effects of sunscreen, and other personal products made with chemicals, on the environment. And a globe-spanning 2015 study examined coral reefs in the US
Virgin4 Islands, Israel and Hawaii, and found that oxybenzone significantly
leaches5 coral of
nutrients6. Some ecotourism sites and private resorts in the tropics already prohibit similar products.
Democrat7 Sen. Mike Gabbard of Hawaii introduced Senate Bill No. 2571, whose text states, "These chemicals have also been shown to degrade corals' resiliency and ability to adjust to climate change factors and
inhibit8 recruitment of new corals."
"When you think about it, our island paradise, surrounded by coral reefs, is the perfect place to set the gold standard for the world to follow," Gabbard told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
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