10/23/2015
Ingredients of sunscreens are highly toxic to coral reefs, new study says
Sunscreen shields our skin from UV ray by guarding us from premature aging, sun burn and skin cancer. While the use of sun screen is recommended by experts, some of its ingredients pose threat. According to a new research by a team of scientists led by Craig Downs of non-profit scientific organization Haereticus Environmental Laboratory in Virginia, a common UV-filtering compound found in 3500 brands of sunscreen worldwide, is fatal to coral reef. The study says that Oxybenzone which is one of the key materials of sunscreen contributes directly in the decline of coral reefs around the world.
The study was published in the Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology this Tuesday. It highlighted that every year around 6,000 and 14,000 tons of sunscreen lotion cleans up in the coral reefs areas, mostly in those popular tourist spots like Hawaii and the Caribbeans.Most of these sunscreen stimulate viruses in the algae, known as zooxanthellae, which live within corals. Zooxanthellae plays a vital role in coral reefs life span because it provides the vibrant color and supplies food energy through photosynthesis.
