Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Cosmetic Industry Oxybenzone bad for corral reefs?

  • Syl

    Member
    May 11, 2022 at 1:34 am
  • OldPerry

    Member
    May 11, 2022 at 3:04 am

    @Syl - I haven’t seen any research to demonstrate that Meroxyl doesn’t have the same problems as other sunscreen actives. Lack of data is not a point in favor of any ingredient.

  • grapefruit22

    Member
    May 11, 2022 at 10:02 am

    I looked through SDS of different sunscreen ingredients - chemical, zinc oxide (nano, non-nano), and in all SDS I checked, I found information: very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects. Isn’t that a problem for most (if not all) ingredients of this type? 
    So far, I think non-nano coated zinc oxide is the best choice given the gaps in the data on chemical sunscreen actives.

  • PhilGeis

    Member
    May 11, 2022 at 10:37 am

    SDS refers risk associated with the raw material.  to address risk in product application, one would need to consider dose - as Perry noted in the initial post..

  • OldPerry

    Member
    May 11, 2022 at 12:23 pm

    @grapefruit22 - wouldn’t exposure of aquatic life to 100% non-nano, coated zinc oxide result in the death of said aquatic life?

  • grapefruit22

    Member
    May 11, 2022 at 1:02 pm

    @PhilGeis 
    Sure, my point is that if oxybenzone is risky only as a raw material, and other raw sunscreen ingredients could also be risky, why is only Oxybenzone mentioned as a problem for reef, and other sunscreen ingredients are “reef-safe”?

    @Perry
    All SPF ingredients I found had warning “Harmful to aquatic life with long-lasting effects”
    For me, a non-nano zinc oxide is better, because at least it’s not absorbed through the skin.

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