AUSTIN, Texas (March 26, 2019) – As of April 2019, Whole Foods Market will become the first national retailer to ban both oxybenzone (benzophenone-3) and octinoxate (octyl methoxycinnamate), two ingredients commonly found in chemical sunscreens and body care products. The company will no longer sell body care and sunscreen products in the U.S. that contain these ingredients, which are linked to damaging marine environments and ecosystems, including coral reefs.
“For about 30 years, Whole Foods Market has implemented stringent standards for all of the body care products we sell in our stores, and we currently ban more than 100 ingredients commonly found in beauty and personal care elsewhere,” said Jen Coccaro, Executive Leader of Body Care & Lifestyle for Whole Foods Market. “Early in 2017 we banned oxybenzone, and we’re proud to now also ban octinoxate, two ingredients frequently found in chemical sunscreen, taking our already rigorous body care standards one step further.”
Whole Foods Market’s announcement comes shortly after new regulation in the state of Hawaii and Key West, Florida, which will prohibit the sale or distribution of over-the-counter sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate. These regulations will officially go into effect beginning January 1, 2021.
Whole Foods Market carefully evaluates the quality of the personal care products it carries in terms of ingredients, experience and efficacy, and only sells products that have not been tested on animals. Shoppers can find hundreds of brands and local products at the grocer’s more than 490 stores around the world. Find out more about body care standards at Whole Foods Market here.
