Lathering up with sunscreen may prevent sunburn and protect against cancer, but it is also killing coral reefs around the world.
That’s the conclusion of a team of international scientists, which includes University of Central Florida professor and diving enthusiast John Fauth.
The researchers found that oxybenzone, a common UV-filtering compound, is in high concentrations in the waters around the more popular coral reefs in Hawaii, and the Caribbean. The chemical not only kills the coral, it causes DNA damage in adults and deforms the DNA in coral in the larval stage, making it unlikely they can develop properly. The highest concentrations of oxybenzone were found in reefs most popular with tourists.
“Coral reefs are the world’s most productive marine ecosystems and support commercial and recreational fisheries and tourism,” Fauth said. “In addition, reefs protect coastlines from storm surge. Worldwide, the total value of coral reefs is tremendous. And they are in danger.”
The team’s findings are published in today’s edition of the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.
Executive director and researcher Craig Downs of the non-profit scientific organization Haereticus Environmental Laboratory in Virginia led the team. The scientists collected samples from reefs in Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Eilat, Israel diving into the water themselves. They wore no personal hygiene products during the dives.
“The use of oxybenzone-containing products needs to be seriously deliberated in islands and areas where coral reef conservation is a critical issue,” Downs said. “We have lost at least 80 percent of the coral reefs in the Caribbean. Any small effort to reduce oxybenzone pollution could mean that a coral reef survives a long, hot summer, or that a degraded area recovers. Everyone wants to build coral nurseries for reef restoration, but this will achieve little if the factors that originally killed off the reef remain or intensify in the environment.”
In laboratory experiments, the team exposed coral larvae and cells of adult corals to increasing concentrations of oxybenzone. The research team discovered that oxybenzone deforms coral larvae by trapping them in their own skeleton, making then unable to float with currents and disperse.
Oxybenzone also caused coral bleaching, which is a prime cause of coral mortality worldwide. Corals bleach when they lose or expel the algae that normally live inside them, thus losing a valuable source of nutrition. In addition, coral larvae exposed to increasing oxybenzone concentrations suffered more DNA damage.
Cells from seven species of corals were killed by oxybenzone at concentrations similar to those detected in ocean water samples. Three of the species that the researchers tested are currently listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act.
The team concluded in the published paper that “Oxybenzone poses a hazard to coral reef conservation, and threatens the resiliency of coral reefs to climate change.”
Read more: Lathering Up with Sunscreen May Protect Against Cancer – Killing Coral Reefs Worldwide
The Latest on: Coral reefs
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Coral reefs” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Coral reefs
- Underwater Video Shows U.S. Plane on Fragile Coral Reefon November 30, 2023 at 7:33 pm
Earlier this month, the naval aircraft overshot a runway and landed in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Divers stabilized the plane to prevent it from lodging deeper into the reef.
- New video shows crashed Navy spy plane resting on coral reef in Hawaiion November 30, 2023 at 5:42 pm
New underwater video was released of a Navy spy plane which overshot a runway in Hawaii and landed in a bay. The video shows the tires of the plane sitting on an ecologically-sensitive reef. The Navy ...
- Underwater video shows stuck Navy plane's tires touching coral reefon November 30, 2023 at 3:43 pm
Tires from a large airplane that’s been stuck in a Hawaii bay for more than a week are resting on parts of a reef, according to video the U.S. Navy released ...
- Underwater video shows U.S. Navy plane’s tires touching a coral reef in Hawaii bayon November 30, 2023 at 12:21 pm
Tires from a large airplane that’s been stuck in a Hawaii bay for more than a week are resting on parts of a reef, according to video the U.S. Navy released Wednesday as it figures out a plan to ...
- Incredible underwater footage shows huge US Navy plane stuck on Hawaii Bay's reef - as its tires remain lodged in the coral more than a WEEK after pilot overshot runway at ...on November 30, 2023 at 11:56 am
A massive military intelligence aircraft finds itself stuck on a reef in a Hawaii Bay after it overshot a runway ... revealing the plane's tires lodged in the coral as fish navigate through rock ...
- The US Navy released a wild video of a P-8A plane stuck on a Hawaiian coral reef after it missed a runwayon November 30, 2023 at 12:05 am
The US Navy said in a statement on Tuesday that they had to remove the aircraft's fuel first before they could recover it.
- A US Navy plane went into a Hawaii bay. Underwater video shows its tires are touching a coral reefon November 29, 2023 at 11:08 pm
Tires from a large airplane that’s been stuck in a Hawaii bay for more than a week are resting on parts of a reef, according to video the U.S. Navy released ...
- US Navy releases underwater footage of plane that overshot a runway floating above Hawaii reefon November 29, 2023 at 5:20 pm
Tires from a large airplane that's been stuck in a Hawaii bay for more than a week are resting on parts of a reef, according to video the U.S. Navy released Wednesday as it figures out a plan to ...
- US Navy plane gets stuck on coral reef after missing Hawaii runwayon November 29, 2023 at 3:59 pm
Concerns over environmental damage rise as a Navy plane crashes into a Hawaii bay, with the parts of the plane resting on coral. I'm a doctor and my healthy 16-year-old daughter died suddenly from the ...
- Best Minecraft Coral Reef Seeds – 1.20, Bedrock & Java (2023)on November 28, 2023 at 2:22 am
This seed spawns you next to a marvelous little oasis with a Coral Reef in the water and multiple-story Lush Caves in the cliffs on the edges. The beauty of this spawn makes it reason enough to make ...
via Bing News