This Reef-Safe Pledge is an educational campaign whose goal is to decrease the use of harmful chemical sunscreens on our marine ecology. We urge everyone to choose sunscreen free from synthetic chemicals that harm our ocean's coral reefs and encourage retailers to support this shift by making alternative sunscreens available.

The Reef-Safe Pledge was inspired by Hawaii’s historic ban on the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate, which have been proven to harm coral reefs. As the first place in the world to initiate this ban, Hawaii has helped us reach an important conservation milestone. Even before the Hawaii ban goes into full effect, education has help to allow their reefs to rebound.

Each year, 28,000,000 pounds of sunscreen wind up in waters that are home to coral reefs, but 1 drop of oxybenzone is toxic enough to contaminate 6.5 Olympic sized pools worth of water and seriously damage and even kill corals.  In Hawaii, concentrations more than 10 times that amount have been measured at popular beaches. Since coral reefs support nearly 25% of all marine life, harming them endangers the ocean’s entire ecosystem. That’s why we’re pledging to choose reef-safe sunscreens and ask you to join us. (Taken from The Inland Ocean Coalition)

Here are a list of chemicals that are known to be harmful to our ocean environment.

Oxybenzone (benzophenone-3)
Ethylparaben
Octinoxate (octyl methoxycinnamate)
Butylparaben
Octocrylene
4-methyl-benzylidene camphor
Benzyl paraben
Triclosan
Methylparaben
Phenoxyethanol