Is your sunscreen killing off coral reefs? Oxybenzone found in lotions can trigger bleaching and make animals infertile
- Common chemical in sunscreen lotions poses an existential threat - even in miniscule concentrations - to the planet's corals and coral reefs
- Causes coral bleaching, phenomenon associated with El Niño
- Also found it damaged the DNA of the corals, neutering their ability to reproduce and setting off a widespread decline in coral populations
Daily sunscreen use is widely acknowledged as essential to skin cancer prevention, but it may be harming the environment.
New research finds that a common chemical in sunscreen lotions and other cosmetic products poses an existential threat - even in miniscule concentrations - to the planet's corals and coral reefs.
'The chemical, oxybenzone (benzophenone-3), is found in more than 3,500 sunscreen products worldwide,' said Dr. Omri Bronstein of the Tel Aviv University (TAU) Department of Zoology.
'It pollutes coral reefs via swimmers who wear sunscreen or wastewater discharges from municipal sewage outfalls and coastal septic systems,'
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Bleaching can transform healthy coral reefs into reefs dominated by other organisms such as seaweeds. This can take decades to reverse and will only happen if conditions become hospitable for corals again (fire coral before bleaching pictured left and afterwards, pictured right)
The study was conducted by a number of institutions including a team of marine scientists from TAU, the Haereticus Environmental Laboratory in Virginia and the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.
Scientists explained that a person spending a day at the beach might use between two to four ounces of sunblock if reapplied every two hours after swimming, towelling off or sweating a significant amount.
Oxybenzone pollution (stock image pictured) predominantly occurs in swimming areas, but it also occurs on reefs five to 20 miles from the coastline
Multiply this by the number of swimmers in the water and a serious risk to the environment emerges, they warned.
'Oxybenzone pollution predominantly occurs in swimming areas, but it also occurs on reefs five to 20 miles from the coastline as a result of submarine freshwater seeps that can be contaminated with sewage,' said Dr Bronstein.
'The chemical is highly toxic to juvenile corals.
'We found four major forms of toxicity associated with exposure of baby corals to this chemical.'
Forms of toxicity include coral bleaching, a phenomenon associated with high sea-surface temperature events like El Niño - and with global mass die-offs of coral reefs.
The researchers found oxybenzone made the corals more susceptible to this bleaching at lower temperatures, rendering them less resilient to climate change.
They also found that oxybenzone damaged the DNA of the corals, neutering their ability to reproduce and setting off a widespread decline in coral populations.
The study also pointed to oxybenzone as an endocrine disruptor, causing young coral to encase itself in its own skeleton, ultimately causing death.
Lastly, the researchers saw evidence of gross deformities caused by oxybenzone, such as coral mouths that expand to five times their healthy, normal size.
'We found the lowest concentration to see a toxicity effect was 62 parts per trillion - equivalent to a drop of water in six and a half Olympic-sized swimming pools,' said Dr. Bronstein.
The researchers found concentrations of oxybenzone in the US Virgin Islands to be 23 times higher than the minimum considered toxic to corals.
'Current concentrations of oxybenzone in these coral reef areas pose a significant ecological threat,' said Dr. Bronstein.
'Although the use of sunscreen is recognized as important for protection from the harmful effects of sunlight, there are alternatives - including other chemical sunscreens, as well as wearing sun clothing on the beach and in the water.'
The researchers hope their study will draw awareness of the dangers posed by sunscreen to the marine environment and promote the alternative use of sun-protective swimwear.
The research was published in published in Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.
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