Governor Ige – Act Now to Protect Our Reefs

In an impressive commitment to protecting Hawaii's cherished coral reefs, the state legislature has passed a bill to ban certain sunscreens which contain chemicals which are toxic to corals.

The bill is now sitting on the desk of Hawaii's governor, David Ige. Unfortunately, many companies and business interests have been lobbying behind the scenes to kill the toxic sunscreen ban.

Coral reefs are critical to ocean wildlife, and play a huge role driving tourism in tropical locations such as Hawaii. But we're loving our reefs to death, and overfishing, global warming, ocean acidification and invasive species are all playing a roll in degrading these beautiful and wonderful living structures.

Hawaii's legislature is to be congratulated for taking a world-leading stance on this newly discovered threat, the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate, which are found in most sunscreens. Studies have found these chemicals in sunscreens make coral reefs more
susceptible to environmental stressors and can even kill them. It's urgent that we remove these chemicals from our oceans.

But now, some business interests are rallying to oppose this ban. I know that there are sunscreen alternatives that are good for people and the environment – thirteen years ago, I launched my company to make sure of it. We can protect people from sun burns and skin cancer the same time we protect our oceans and our environment.

Please urge Governor Ige to support the leadership of Hawaii's legislature to protect our coral reefs and sign this bill into law.