In a recent article written by Danny Clemens for Discovery.com: A chemical commonly found in sunscreen is detrimental to coral health, a new report finds. An international team of researchers linked oxybenzone, an organic compound used in more than 3,000 sunscreens, to “gross morphological deformities,” DNA damage and endocrine disruption in already-vulnerable baby corals.
Oxybenzone can adversely impact coral health in concentrations as small as 62 parts per trillion — the equivalent of one drop of water in more than six Olympic-sized swimming pools.
In Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands, however, oxybenzone has been measured in concentrations as high as 1.4 parts per million — an unsurprising statistic considering that an estimated 14,000 tons of sunscreen enter coral reefs each year. Around the world, at least 10 percent of reefs are at a high risk of exposure to oxybenzone, study authors estimate. According to the National Park Service, no sunscreen…Read more
Image Source: ThinkStock