CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - Big Lots sunscreen purporting to be reef-friendly is the subject of a New York class action lawsuit that alleges the coral reef around the state's coast has become damaged.
A lawsuit was filed May 12 against Big Lots Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The plaintiff, Andrew Bellomo, alleges that chemicals in sunscreen sold by the company are causing significant harm to coral reefs.
The complaint argues that two common ultraviolet filters in sunscreen, oxybenzone and octinoxate, are contributing to coral bleaching and their subsequent death. They are not in Big Lots' products.
The lawsuit cites studies published in journals such as Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology which concluded that these chemicals are harmful to coral reefs.
The suit is similar to another filed by lawyer Spencer Sheehan in Florida against Walmart. Both sunscreens state on their label that they are compliant with a Hawaii law that banned oxybenzone and octinoxate from sunscreens.
But further studies show other harmful chemicals like avobenzone that are contained in Big Lots' product, making it not "reef-conscious," the lawsuit says.