{"id":23343,"date":"2018-06-05T08:12:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T12:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=23343"},"modified":"2018-11-14T10:19:47","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T15:19:47","slug":"hawaii-looks-at-banning-sunscreen-ingredient-because-of-ucf-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/hawaii-looks-at-banning-sunscreen-ingredient-because-of-ucf-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawaii Looks at Banning Sunscreen Ingredient Because of UCF Research"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Credit: Nick Russett<\/p><\/div>\n

A University of Central Florida biologist is seeing a wave of action from his work, which links a certain sunscreen ingredient with the death of coral reefs around the world.<\/p>\n

Associate Professor John Fauth and a team of international researchers in\u00a02015 published a study that showed the ingredient oxybenzone disrupted coral reproduction and caused bleaching<\/a>.\u00a0Coral bleaching is destroying reef and, impacting local economies and ocean species that depend on the reefs for survival. The study was one reason Fauth provided written testimony when legislators in Hawaii crafted a bill to ban sunscreens with the ingredient in May. The legislature approved the bill, which awaits the governor\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n

Late last month, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition with the\u00a0U.S. Food and Drug Administration<\/a>\u00a0to ban sunscreen with the ingredient.<\/p>\n

For Fauth, a scuba diver and researcher who\u2019s been studying reefs for 18 years, the impact of his work provides some professional satisfaction. But he\u2019s most excited about the impact the team\u2019s work is having now. It could help save the reefs, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHawaii has taken the lead in preventing harmful sunscreen ingredients from damaging its beautiful coral reefs. Now, it seems the continental U.S. may be heading in that direction,\u201d Fauth said. \u201cHopefully more governments will follow these examples of strong environmental stewardship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fauth said his work and that of many other scientists shows the connection between these chemicals and the destruction of coral reefs. Previous\u00a0studies from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>\u00a0showed detectable levels of oxybenzone in 97 percent of Americans who were sampled.\u00a0Other studies showed oxybenzone can alter the body\u2019s hormone system,<\/a>\u00a0cause low birthweight in girls, and cause skin rashes.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s not advocating people go in the water without protection. Other sunscreens don\u2019t contain reef-killing chemicals, and SPF clothing can help protect people without negatively impacting the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafer, non-nano mineral sunscreens (zinc oxide and titanium dioxide) are available that do an even better job protecting against the sun\u2019s harmful rays, so there\u2019s no excuse for continuing to use oxybenzone and other harmful chemicals in sunscreens, lipstick, lip balms, moisturizers, and other personal-care products,\u201d Fauth said.<\/p>\n

Written by Zenaida Kotala<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A University of Central Florida biologist is seeing a wave of action from his work, which links a certain sunscreen ingredient with the death of coral reefs around the world. Associate Professor John Fauth and a team of international researchers in\u00a02015 published a study that showed the ingredient oxybenzone disrupted coral reproduction and caused bleaching.\u00a0Coral […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":23344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[34,38,39,13,5377,28,5944,29],"tags":[786,5763,1811,5762,5764,3535],"class_list":["post-23343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biology-departments","category-breaking-news","category-faculty-news","category-news","category-research","category-top-news","category-ucf-coastal","category-ucf-news","tag-coral-reefs","tag-hawaii","tag-john-fauth","tag-oxybenzone","tag-sunscreen","tag-ucf-department-of-biology"],"yoast_head":"\nHawaii Looks at Banning Sunscreen Ingredient Because of UCF Research - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/hawaii-looks-at-banning-sunscreen-ingredient-because-of-ucf-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hawaii Looks at Banning Sunscreen Ingredient Because of UCF Research - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A University of Central Florida biologist is seeing a wave of action from his work, which links a certain sunscreen ingredient with the death of coral reefs around the world. 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