Sunscreens Cause Coral Bleaching

[ArtC]

http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2008/10966/abstract.html

 

Results: Sunscreens cause the rapid and complete bleaching of hard corals, even at extremely low concentrations. The effect of sunscreens is due to organic ultraviolet filters, which are able to induce the lytic viral cycle in symbiotic zooxanthellae with latent infections.

 

Conclusions: We conclude that sunscreens, by promoting viral infection, potentially play an important role in coral bleaching in areas prone to high levels of recreational use by humans.

 

Who knew?

 

And wash your arms before putting them in the tank!

[OUsnakebyte]

How many corals did you kill on your last dive?

 

I didn't kill any b/c I use biodegradable sunscreen!!!

 

I did read this study after hearing about it on NPR, and while I agree we should keep as many things out of the water as possible, I did question the methods on this particular study. I don't recall the numbers, but if I remember correctly, the concentrations they were subjecting the corals to seemed far to high to be possible on a reef. But, I guess the flip side is that with more and more people heading to the beach, well...

 

Anyway, I've used biodegradable sunscreen ever since learning about it on a trip to Cozumel a few years ago.

 

Cheers

Mike

[Almon]

I was told in 1997 by dive tour guides in Cancun that sunscreen kills the corals.

[mogurnda]

Given the massive flow rates over reefs, I have always been dubious about the effect of the transient, small pulses of sunscreen that would be produced by divers at any particular site. The article did nothing to actually measure the amount of sunscreen that a coral experiences on the reef, so I am still not sure what to think.

 

Honestly, I expect divers with cameras to be a bigger hazard to the reefs than divers with sunscreen.