HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0771.226 2020-2022 p/Gourd l
bill
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COUNTY OF H.AWAu
Aloha Chair Rebecca Villegas,Co-Chair Heather KiahttLL' r,�,mt gtrlyf Committee on Climate
Resilience& Natural Management; AA TT tI
My name is Jeff Bagshaw and I am the Outreach and Information Specialist with the state's Division of
Forestry and Wildlife. Myself and volunteers have been doing outreach on this issue with the public at
Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve since 2015 and together we have logged hundreds of hours and talked
to roughly 4-5,000 people each year. Although I'm a Maui resident,we share the same ocean, including
larval fish and corals that travel between our islands,so mahalo for having the courage to address this
important issue.
Bill 167 will remove environmentally hazardous materials that have been plaguing our islands for
decades. It does what we have been unable to do with thousands of hours of outreach and education.
It recognizes that relying on consumers to make the right choices has not been enough,especially in the
face of advertising campaigns and green-washing marketing.
1. Bill 167 solves the problem at the store-where the problem begins. Education/outreach at the
water's edge,where people may not have other alternatives or have to change plans, is difficult
and reaches only a minority.
2. Bill 167 makes it clear that we are not fooled:we know that just re-formulating and renaming
each newly fabricated compound from a laboratory does not suddenly make a product safe for
the environment.
3. Bill 167 not only protects our reefs and all species that rely on them, it protects our food
resources from contamination by products that are not necessary for sun protection in people.
This is an issue of environmental justice:one consumer's choice of using toxic sun-protection
products does not override the rights of others to sea foods without benzenes in them.
Some dermatologists who make and sell their own sun-care products may defend chemical sunscreens,
yet dermatologists who do not make/market products say that mineral sun-bocks work to prevent both
UVA and UVB rays from reaching your lower dermal layer,where skin-cancer damage begins.
Between 2009 and 2018 the National Cancer Institute has recorded a rise in skin cancer rates of 1.4%
annually, despite the availability of chemical sunscreens. Chemical sunscreen compounds began being
sold in 1978—if they are so effective why are skin cancer rates rising consistently?
Industry will claim that its important to maintain "choices"for consumers because some people,for
reasons of vanity, because of the way the"pasty white stuff" looks,won't use mineral sun-blocks and
that some react badly. Minerals used in sunblocks are mixed with oils and other additives which very
rarely create reactions, but not all products are the same, and one formulation may be better than
another for sensitive skin,so rare allergic reactions are not an adequate excuse to continue selling
petroleum-based sunscreens. There's a possibility of risk in every option (except clothing). Can industry
representatives tell us the percentage of people who have reactions to chemical sunscreens versus the
number of people who have reactions to mineral sun-blocks? Can the industry share statistics of the
number of people who suffer from second-hand exposure to benzines (who do not have a choice)versus
those who get skin cancer? Can we compare economic loss of sales to economic costs of contaminated
food,damaged reefs, loss of tourism and loss of shoreline protection?
Comm. No,111-171°
Ref.To: Pi(,ounU I
Ref. Date JUN ® 1 2f177
This isn't just about reefs for pretty fish to see when snorkeling. Its also about our food resources, its a
matter of environmental justice.
Testing chemical toxicity in a lab setting is the only way to accurately assess effects on some marine
organisms. But for skeptics that doubt that time-tested method, here are three studies of data taken
from wild animals that show these compounds bioaccumulate,they move up the food chain and are
stored in the liver and other organs:
• A 2020 study published in the journal Elsevier showed four common sunscreen agents in blood
samples from juvenile Loggerhead sea turtles caught off the coast of Italy. Loggerheads eat
invertebrates. Humans in Hawai'i eat invertebrates such as crab, lobster,tako,and opihi.
• A 2018 study published in Elsevier showed several fish species form a freshwater lake in China
had high concentrations of these compounds in liver and gill tissues. Fish eat algae,
invertebrates and smaller fish. Humans in Hawai'i eat limu, invertebrates and fish.
• A 2013 study published in Environmental Science and Technology showed that petrochemical
sunscreen compounds were present in liver samples from 70%of wild Francisana dolphins off
the coast of Brazil,showing that these compounds bioaccumulate through the food web.
Dolphin species everywhere eat fish. Humans in Hawaii eat fish.
These compounds are showing up in the tissues of people who have never used sunscreens,they are
based on what chemists call benzines, rings of carbon. They are designed to absorb a photon of
sunlight,then break-down, releasing heat, raising the temperature of your skin—this is one reason why
it affects corals and causes them to bleach. This is the definition of a chemical reaction, and its
happening within your skin cells. The remnants of the chemical structures, benzine rings,are now free
to travel in your.body, into your bloodstream,through your endocrine system and eventually into your
urine. Mineral sun-blocks are not absorbed by your skin,they sit on the surface, reflecting sunlight.
We have always had choices that have worked for generations:cover-up, seek shade between 10 and 2,
use sun-blocks. All the major manufactures already make and sell mineral-based sun-protection,they
just aren't as profitable because they can't be patented.
Many of those I have talked with over the years have expressed one thing: "I just wish these things were
illegal to sell/were off the market." We ban the sale or use of many destructive products in our society.
If oversight for one industry is missing on higher levels,its prudent for local governments to protect
their resources and people. Thank you for doing this important work. Hawaii Island and Maui County
can lead the way!
Jeff Bagshaw
Information and Outreach Specialist
Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife
Maui Nui Branch
Jeff.w.bagshaw@hawaii.Bov
(808)264-7891