Key West sunscreen ban reverberates throughout United States

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

If Key West officials wanted to make a statement with the city commission’s ban on sunscreen products containing two ingredients thought to damage coral reefs, they succeeded wildly.

The 6-1 vote on Feb. 5 to ban the sale of all products containing oxybenzone and/or octinoxate, used widely in sunscreen, cosmetics and other personal care products, garnered attention from a wide swath of national media, including the Washington Post, Miami Herald, CNN, NCB News, New York Times and even thepointsguy.com, a website devoted to reviewing credit card travel perks. National Public Radio covered the decision. So did Mother Jones, the liberal alternative newspaper, as did Fox News, the conservative national media outlet.

Commissioner Jimmy Weekley, who sponsored the resolution and agreed to an amendment pushing its start date back by one year to Jan. 1, 2021, said he had been contacted by multiple national media organizations prior to the Feb. 5 final vote approving the new law, which prohibits the sale and distribution of sun protection products, including sunscreen and other cosmetics. Under the ordinance, first-time violators will receive a warning but after that, the city will issue a $100 ticket for each subsequent violation.

“They [national media] will get the message out that Key West, the three by five-mile island, is going to take a major step to help preserve our environment,” Weekley said.

That they did. Mayor Teri Johnston was widely quoted in myriad news articles after the vote. But she had been contacted prior to the vote, as well, including a call from the president of the state Chamber of Commerce, who told her his organization has begun to research the pros and cons of a statewide ban. Calling Key West’s debate a “black and white issue” about banning “known toxins,” Johnston said Key West’s decision was going to reverberate far outside of the city.

“It’s going to create an educational system all over the city of Key West and the state of Florida and the United States,” she said. “I believe it’s our obligation.”

Perhaps not wanting other communities or organizations to pre-empt Key West in efforts to be seen as protectors of the third largest barrier reef in the world, stretching from Palm Beach to the Dry Tortugas, Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover pointed out that a similar ban bill has already been filed in the Florida State Senate.

“We’re not going to be the first if we don’t act on this tonight,” she said at the Feb. 5 meeting.

The lone dissenter to the ban was Commissioner Greg Davila, who said his earlier concerns remained intact for the second and final vote on the ban. He said he would support efforts to stop swimmers, snorkelers and scuba divers from using sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate when they go into the water, but was worried that preventing non-swimmers from choosing the best sunscreen for themselves and their families would lead to higher incidences of skin cancer.

“The issue is if somebody is wearing sunscreen in their yard in the city of Key West, is that hurting the coral? I can’t make that logical connection,” Davila said. “And we’re talking about law that we’re making here and we’re not giving our residents the freedom to choose which sunscreens they want to use.”

Commissioner Sam Kaufman had attempted to craft a compromise that would address Davila’s concerns with other commissioners’ desire to help protect the health of the reef. He proposed sending the issue to the city Sustainability Advisory Board, giving it a year to research the issue and report back. However, commissioners rejected the idea of putting another huge project on the SAB’s shoulders – it was recently tasked with looking at alternative and environmentally-sound ways to repurpose Mt. Trashmore, the city’s landfill – but kept Kaufman’s amendment to push the ban’s proposed start date back one year to Jan. 1, 2021. The state of Hawaii earlier enacted a similar sunscreen ban, which will take effect on the same date.

Sunscreen manufacturers and trade organizations representing them had sent representatives to Key West to speak against the ban. Carlos Gutierrez, vice president of state and local affairs for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, a Washington, D.C.-based group representing manufacturers of over-the-counter medications including sunscreen, said skin cancer rates are rising despite the thousands of brands of sunscreen available. And he was dismissive of at least one sunscreen alternative, that of wearing long-sleeved shirts and other clothing cover-ups in lieu of sunscreen.

“Folks that are coming to Key West as tourists, I challenge you to get them to come all the way down to Key West to put on more clothing,” Gutierrez said. “So, we see it as the best sunscreen is a sunscreen you will use.”

Commissioner Weekley acknowledged that sunscreen products containing oxybenzone and octinoxate are not the only cause of coral bleaching and reef reproductive problems. But it’s the city’s responsibility to do what it can, he said.

“There are thousands and thousands of alternative sunscreens [without oxybenzone and octinoxate] that can be used. But we only have one reef,” Weekley said. “There is no alternative for the reef.”

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