Sustainable Saturdays – Is your sunblock coral reef-friendly?

If you are like me, you have probably never even thought twice about what is inside your sunblock. My main concern has always been avoiding sunburn. It was only recently that I found out that some mainstream sunblock does not only contain plastic, but they also contain ingredients that can physically bleach and even kill a coral reef. So my question is this. If your sunblock can kill a coral reef, should you be putting that stuff on your skin? I think not…
So what do you need to look out for?
A man who has his PhD in Ecotoxicology has spent the last 14 years pinpointing ingredients that are detrimental to marine health and life.
According to him, the main culprit is an ingredient called Oxybenzone. This ingredient attacks the DNA of coral reefs in such a way that they could still look healthy, but they are actually sterile and unable to reproduce or even already dead. It also causes coral reefs to bleach and die. When a coral reef dies it crumbles, disappears and does not come back.
So when you buy sunblock again replace it with a better choice for the environment, but also for you. Various ‘green’ online-shops sell many different environmentally friendly sunscreens and sunblock.

(Source:https://www.vogue.com/article/reef-safe-sunscreens-oxybenzone-free-sea-turtles-environment-stream2sea)