Going on a tropical vacation soon? You might want to take a closer look at the sunscreen you’re packing. The truth is, it could be toxic to both your skin and the environment if it contains the ingredient oxybenzone. Oxybenzone is a chemical filter found in many popular beauty products and cosmetics, especially sunscreens.
It’s main purpose is to absorb sun’s damaging UV rays and protect our skin from those harmful rays, but it’s actually highly toxic to the environment and our oceans, where it eventually ends up. In fact, about 14,000 tons of sunscreen containing oxybenzone ends up in the world’s oceans every year.
What happens once it reaches the ocean? It bleaches and damages coral reefs. It prevents young coral from properly developing and it’s been proven that it alters a coral’s DNA. Therefore, it has ongoing adverse effects since organisms depend on the life and health of coral reefs. Organisms including us! Communities and regions of the world depend on the life of coral reefs for fishing, tourism and more. If organisms that live within coral reefs are affected, we're all eventually affected.
To further put this into perspective, it takes about one drop of oxybenzone per six and a half Olympic-sized pools to cause damage to a coral reef.
So even though we know what oxybenzone does to the environment, about 80% of sunscreens on the market still contain the harmful ingredient. However, Nurture My Body has an alternative, natural and reef-safe mineral sunscreen to use instead. It uses Zinc oxide, rather than oxybenzone, which is low (safest) on the EWG scale of sunscreen ingredients.
It uses non-nano Zinc Oxide to block harmful sun’s rays, just as effectively as sunscreen with oxybenzone. So we’re just going to squash that myth that sunscreen with oxybenzone protects better — it doesn’t. An all natural solution just makes sense when oxybenzone is proven to compromise the life in our oceans. Formulated with extra virgin olive oil, Jojoba oil, shea butter and Vitamin E, Nurture My Body’s Natural SPF 32 Sunscreen is the natural, harmless solution when you’re heading out into the sun.
It’s always been, and always will be, a collective responsibility to take care of the Earth that always takes care of us. Switching sunscreens is just another baby step in the right direction.