Chemical (organic) UV filterReef research: Strong concern

Oxybenzone

The most widely regulated sunscreen chemical in the world, and the ingredient that started the reef-safe movement.

Banned in

Hawaii
U.S. Virgin Islands
Palau
Aruba
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
Thailand

Also excluded where only mineral sunscreen is allowed

Maui County
Hawaiʻi County

Is Oxybenzone safe for your skin?

Regulators differ by use. The EU found oxybenzone safe at 6% in face and hand products but not in body sunscreens at that level, and Australia's TGA recommends tighter limits. The US FDA lists it among 12 filters needing more data and says that is not a finding that they are unsafe. Blood-level studies show it is absorbed and persists, and whether it affects hormones in people is unresolved.

FDA: oxybenzone is one of 12 US sunscreen filters proposed as lacking enough data to be classed as safe and effective. The FDA says this is not a conclusion that they are unsafe.
Absorption: in an FDA-run trial of 48 adults (Matta et al., JAMA 2020), oxybenzone peak blood levels were 258.1 ng/mL after lotion and 180.1 ng/mL after aerosol spray. That is far above the 0.5 ng/mL level the FDA uses to decide whether extra safety studies are needed, and levels stayed above it in more than half of participants for 21 days. The authors said the results do not mean people should stop using sunscreen.
EU SCCS (2021): 6% oxybenzone was judged safe in face cream, hand cream and lipsticks but not in body creams and sprays, where 2.2% was judged safe. The EU adopted these limits in 2022. The SCCS called the evidence that oxybenzone is an endocrine disruptor inconclusive and at best equivocal, and said it needs further investigation.
Australia's TGA (2025) found a margin of safety below the satisfactory 100 for whole-body use at the current 10% maximum, and recommended restricting concentrations and use. Margins were above 100 for adults in most face and hand scenarios, but not for twice-daily use all year on head and hands, or for whole-family scenarios.
Endocrine questions: the TGA said the data show potential endocrine effects but are not adequate to classify oxybenzone as an endocrine disruptor. It cited rat studies with reduced anogenital distance in male pups and delayed follicle development in females. A systematic review it cites found no adverse effect on fertility, fetal growth or neurodevelopment, but found associations with thyroid hormone, testosterone, kidney function and pubertal timing that need more study.
Skin reactions: the TGA review notes oxybenzone is the second most frequent photo contact allergen among UV filters in a European patch-test study.

Sources (6)

Last reviewed October 14, 2026. This summarises what regulators and published studies found. It isn't medical advice.

Where it’s restricted

Named in the law or guidance

Location	Status	Since
Hawaii (statewide) law text ↗	In force	January 1, 2021
U.S. Virgin Islands law text ↗	In force	March 30, 2020
Palau law text ↗	In force	January 1, 2020
Aruba law text ↗	In force	July 1, 2020
Guam law text ↗	In force	October 9, 2025
Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) law text ↗	In force	July 1, 2021
Thailand (all national parks) law text ↗	In force	August 4, 2021
Bonaire (Bonaire National Marine Park) law text ↗	Advisory	—
U.S. National Parks with coral reefs (NPS guidance) law text ↗	Advisory	—
Key West, Florida law text ↗	Repealed	January 1, 2021

Also not allowed under mineral-only rules

Oxybenzone isn’t named in these laws, but they allow only mineral (zinc oxide or titanium dioxide) sunscreens, so a product containing it is excluded anyway.

Maui County (Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi) (in force since October 1, 2022)
Hawaiʻi County (Big Island) (in force since December 1, 2022)

Why it’s regulated

Hawaii's Act 104 (2018) bars sales of sunscreen containing oxybenzone or octinoxate without a prescription from 1 January 2021; the legislature found these chemicals cause coral mortality, bleaching and genetic damage and stated the aim of preserving coral reefs. The EU cut oxybenzone limits in Regulation 2022/1176 (7 July 2022) for human-health reasons, after its scientific committee found 6% in body creams and sprays not safe, with products meeting the old limits allowed on the market until 28 January 2023. In the US, FDA has proposed that sunscreens with oxybenzone lack enough data to be classed as safe and effective, which it says is not a finding that they are unsafe.

What the reef research says

Downs et al. (2016) exposed larvae of the coral Stylophora pistillata and cells from seven coral species to oxybenzone and reported deformity, bleaching and DNA damage, with toxicity higher in light: the 24-hour larval LC50 was 139 µg/L in light against 779 µg/L in darkness, and the deformity EC20 was 6.5 µg/L in light. The same paper measured oxybenzone at 0.8 to 19.2 µg/L at Hawaiian sites and 75 µg/L to 1.4 mg/L in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Vuckovic et al. (2022) found a sea anemone and a mushroom coral convert oxybenzone into glucoside conjugates that were strong photo-oxidants, and anemones without algal symbionts died at higher rates, which the authors say suggests greater risk to bleached corals. A survey of 19 Oahu sites (Mitchelmore et al. 2019) found oxybenzone in seawater below 10 ng/L at 12 sites and up to 136 ng/L at Waikiki, with 6.6 to 241 ng/g dry weight in coral tissue. A 2021 review of the coral literature found most near-reef UV-filter concentrations in the ng/L range and coral effects reported from µg/L to mg/L, with wide variation in test design, and the National Academies (2022) put the highest measured water concentrations of oxybenzone and similar filters at 1 to 10 µg/L, most below 1 µg/L. The National Academies did not carry out a risk characterization and called for a U.S. EPA ecological risk assessment, noting that coral endpoints such as bleaching have no standard test methods.

Sources (11)