Researchers have long suspected that an ingredient in sunscreen called oxybenzone was harming corals, but no one knew how. A new study shows how corals turn oxybenzone into a sunlight-activated toxin.

The petition cites scientific studies on the dangers to Hawai‘i’s coral reefs and coastal ecosystems posed by oxybenzone, octinoxate and octocrylene. The petition, sent to the U.S. Food and Drug ...