HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0771.551 2020-2022 From: Ira Warren
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2022 7:59 AM
To: Council Testimony
Cc: Kathleen Clark; Fran
Subject: Bill 167
I am writing in strong support of Bill 167. I am a Reef Teach volunteer at Kahaluu Reach, and I've seen first-hand
how residents and visitors love the bay and are enthusiastic about using sunscreen that protects the reef once they
know the differences in the sunscreen. The problem with the current state law is that it bans specific ingredients that
are known to be harmful to reefs, but there are other similar compounds out there that are equally harmful.
The sunscreen companies have happily shifted to these ingredients and, worse, label their products as "Reef-Friendly"
or "Reef-Safe" because they do not contain the banned ingredients. In fact, we have a friend who sent us some "Reef-
Friendly" sunscreen, knowing that we were avid about using proper sunscreen. Innocently, however, this sunscreen
contained avobenzone which is as toxic as oxybenzone, a banned substance. This is a perfect example of someone
trying to do the right thing but being misled by labeling and poor laws.
An analogy to banning specific substances would be if the FDA banned medicines which are known to be harmful
rather than allowing the use of medicines which are known to be okay. If they only banned listed medicines, we
would be flooded with other medicines with similar compounds of dubious safety which were not on the prohibited
list.
The only ingredients that are effective as sunscreen and known to be harmless to fish and coral are metal oxides,
specifically zinc oxide and titanium oxide. Please pass Bill 167 which would permit only those sunscreens with these
oxides as their active ingredients. This would be a well-written regulation.
Thank You w
R. A
Ira Warren
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Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
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