Do chemicals from sunscreens affect the environment?

Though debate has been ongoing for years, a new report released Aug. 9 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, D.C., urges further research on how ultraviolet filters in sunscreens affect aquatic systems in the U.S., including states such as Hawaii.

“Although the presence of sunscreen chemicals in the environment doesn’t necessarily indicate that they are causing harm,” a summary of the report noted, “it has led to a rapid increase in research on their potential environmental impacts, and to a ban on certain sunscreen ingredients in Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and several other locations.”

But, NASEM said, the science on sunscreens is still evolving.

“Environmental exposure and hazard data on sunscreen ingredients are limited, and there is not widespread agreement about whether the available research sufficiently supports conclusions that individual ingredients have, or do not have, negative effects on aquatic organisms.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should conduct an ecological risk assessment on UV filters in sunscreens, NASEM said, which have been detected in the water, sediment and living organisms along coasts, in rivers and lakes.

This assessment is urgently needed, given the evidence that U.S. aquatic ecosystems and possibly endangered species are exposed to these UV filters, and given the importance of these ingredients in skin cancer prevention.

And it should be shared with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for their oversight of UV filters.

Bob Richmond, research professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said the report is significant for Hawaii, where coral reefs are important ecologically, culturally and economically.

“The EPA needs to move, and move quickly, on ecological risk assessment,” said Richmond, a member of the committee that wrote the report. “It’s a very well- defined process by which the EPA is able to evaluate not only the existing data, but collect key data critical to information needed to make a set of sound policy decisions.”

The committee spent 18 months examining impacts of the UV filters on both the health of the environment and on human health, he said, and found the two to be inextricably linked.

In all, there are 17 UV filters the FDA currently allows for use in sunscreens in the U.S., according to the report, which have been found in water, sediment and animal tissue.

The environmental risk of UV filters is complex, the report noted, because there is variability among them and their concentrations, environments and sensitivity of exposed species.

Hanauma Bay, for instance, is a popular recreational area with a shallow coral reef within an enclosed area with minimal water exchange, and is more likely to have higher concentrations of UV filters than an open-faced shoreline in Australia.

EPA’s ecological risk assessment should help define the particular conditions under which an environmental stressor might cause ecological impacts, the report said, with a focus on susceptible areas such as reefs near popular beaches or wastewater runoff.

It should examine the impacts of UV filters not just individually, but when combined together as is the case with many sunscreen products. More toxicity studies are also needed for species affected, along with more information on the rate at which UV filters dissipate and degrade in the environment.

Climate change, rising ocean temperatures and other local conditions should also be considered.

Hawaii sunscreen laws

In Hawaii two counties recently passed laws banning the sales and distribution of all nonmineral, over-the-counter sunscreens in order to protect their coral reefs and marine life.

Hawaii County recently passed a law banning the sale and distribution of nonmineral sunscreens on Hawaii island, following Maui County, which passed a similar law in 2021.

The bills impose restrictions much stricter than Hawaii’s law, which bans the sales and distribution of sunscreens with two of those UV filters: oxybenzone and octinoxate. The legislation was passed in 2018 but did not go into effect until 2021.

The premise cited in both bills was that the FDA does not recognize more than a dozen widely ­used chemical sunscreens as safe and effective, including avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate and octocrylene, which still can be found in sunscreens on store shelves in Hawaii.

The only active ingredients used as UV filters in sunscreen products that FDA said were “generally recognized as safe and effective” were zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, otherwise known as mineral sunscreens.

Therefore, advocates for the bills said in the interest of protecting human health and the environment, it makes sense to go with zinc and titanium until more is known about the others.

Maui County’s ordinance goes into effect Oct. 1, while Hawaii County’s goes into effect Dec. 1.

Skin protection

The report at the same time confirmed that consistent use of high, broad-spectrum sunscreens with SPF of 30 and above reduces risk for skin cancer, sunburn and photo-aging. Only a third of the U.S. population uses sunscreen regularly, and most use less than recommended.

“Reduced availability of sunscreens preferred by consumers may lead to reduced use, which would be expected to have a negative impact on health,” the report noted.

However, changes in sun protection behavior could depend on whether they can provide broad-spectrum protection in a cosmetically appealing product.

UH Cancer Center associate professor Kevin Cassel, also a member of the committee, called the report “the first step towards more and better science to understand the complexities surrounding sunscreen’s impact on the environment and human health.”

Dr. Robert Shapiro, a dermatologist in Hilo who testified against the Hawaii County ban, said he was concerned the ban would result in people skipping sunscreens in a state with the highest rate of UV-caused melanoma in the nation.

He also said the science linking sunscreens to coral reef damage is not settled and is still theoretical.

“Many coral reef researchers agree that there is not enough evidence to conclusively state that sunscreens are negatively impacting coral reefs,” said Shapiro in a statement. “Research done so far has been in labs at concentrations 1,000 times higher than what is generally found in the ocean. It’s very unfortunate that this exaggerated science is misleading people to believe that sunscreens are more harmful than they really are.”

Environmental advocates such as Cindi Punihaole, director of The Kohala Center’s Kahaluu Bay Education Center, say plenty of mineral-based sunscreen choices are now widely available.

“There are non-nano zinc oxide sunscreens out now that are really good,” said Punihaole, who advocated for the nonmineral ban on Hawaii island. “They feel good, too, and blend quickly on your skin. There are some wonderful products out there.”

Punihaole believes education can go hand in hand with the protection of Kahaluu Bay, another popular snorkeling spot recently designated a “Hope Spot,” which is home to cauliflower coral and several endangered and threatened species.

The center has launched education campaigns and sunscreen swaps, and has free mineral sunscreen dispensers on-site.

“I think educating with aloha is the key,” she said. “It’s engaging the visitor and educating them so they become part of the solution.”

The EPA sponsored the Congress-mandated report, which was undertaken by the Committee on the Environmental Impact of Currently Marketed Sunscreens and Potential Human Impacts of Changes in Sunscreen Usage.

“We appreciate the NASEM committee’s comprehensive evaluation of UV filters for the protection of the environment and human health and are reviewing the report,” said EPA in a statement.