SFGATE: Bay Area prosecutor warns that these popular sunscreens are harmful
A Bay Area district attorney’s office is successfully challenging sunscreen companies to change how they advertise their products, and an unexpected benefactor from one of the settled lawsuits is a California nonprofit that’s restoring ocean reefs on the Central Coast.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office settled a pair of lawsuits in recent months against two major sunscreen companies that claimed their products were “reef friendly” or “reef safe” in advertisements.
Earlier this month, Santa Clara prosecutors settled a civil lawsuit for $350,000 against Supergoop for allegedly misleading consumers, and in May, Sun Bum was ordered to pay $300,000 in civil penalties. Both companies can no longer advertise that their chemical sunscreens are harmless to marine environments. They must also contact every California retailer that sold their products and ask that they cover up the references to reef safety with a sticker.