Vancouver Island community looks to ban sale of some sunscreens

Courtney Dickson · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 05, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

A tiny water assemblage connected confederate Vancouver Island is considering banning the merchantability of immoderate types of sunscreen, retired of interest that the residue it leaves successful the h2o erstwhile radical swim is harmful to the marine environment. 

Lake Cowichan Town Coun. Aaron Frisby said, successful particular, assembly wants to forestall the merchantability and usage of sunscreens that are not non-nano mineral sunscreen. 

According to the B.C. Conservation Foundation, chemicals often recovered successful regular sunscreen that could beryllium harmful to marine ecosystems see oxybenzone, avobenzone, octocrylene, octinoxate, octisalate, enzacamene and nanoparticles. 

Non-nano mineral sunscreens are escaped of nanoparticles and usage zinc oxide oregon titanium dioxide to bespeak the sun, the instauration said. 

"We're taking babe steps," Frisby told CBC's On The Island big Gregor Craigie. "We recognize that radical tin bring successful sunscreens from different areas and usage those, but this is the archetypal measurement to a bigger picture."

A 2023 survey by the B.C. Conservation Foundation, which examined stream and water water, sediment, benthic macroinvertebrates, mussels and food from the Cowichan watershed from 2019 to 2022, recovered higher concentrations of oxybenzone successful areas that are frequented much often for recreation. 

A caller reappraisal of respective studies connected the effects sunscreen has connected marine beingness recovered UV filters successful sunscreen tin person a "significant" interaction connected organisms, including inhibiting maturation and DNA mutations. 

However, the reappraisal suggests much probe needs to beryllium done to recognize the interaction of different chemicals, and the effects connected much organisms, astatine antithetic stages of beingness and successful antithetic areas. 

"As of now, we don't truly cognize the afloat grade of what harm it could person connected the environment, but it's bully to get up of it," Frisby said.

Lake Cowichan is not the archetypal jurisdiction to instrumentality this benignant of action: connected Jan. 1, 2021, Hawaii banned the merchantability of sunscreen containing chemicals — similar those listed supra — that are harmful to its coral reefs. 

Frisby, who owns a conduit rental institution successful Lake Cowichan, said his concern provides river- and lake-safe sunscreen escaped for customers. He said the B.C. Conservation Foundation and immoderate different organizations person done the same, arsenic a mode to admit that non-nano mineral sunscreens mostly outgo more. 

However, helium said, a small goes a agelong way. 

"You don't privation to usage a lot, different you'll extremity up looking similar a shade for astir of the day."

Frisby doesn't expect a prohibition would travel into effect until 2026, but successful the meantime, said assembly is taking the accidental to amended businesses and the nationalist astir preferred sunscreen products for the stream and lake. 

He said, truthful far, he's heard affirmative feedback from the community. 

"The nationalist seems to beryllium connected committee and besides the businesses look to beryllium connected board. So we're moving successful the close direction."