Oxybenzone, an ingredient in popular brands of sunscreen that helps protect the wearer from the harmful effects of UV rays, may pose a significant threat to the world鈥檚 coral reefs, according to a on Tuesday in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel and Haereticus Environmental Laboratory in Clifford, Virginia, found that when released into water systems鈥攅ither at the beach or via residential wastewater discharges, after sunscreen is washed off in the shower鈥攖he presence of oxybenzone caused聽deformed coral planulae with damaged genetic structure, turning the coral brittle and white.
鈥淥xybenzone is a skeletal endocrine disruptor,鈥 the authors wrote. 鈥淚t induced ossification of the planula, encasing the entire planula in its own skeleton.鈥
The minimum concentration levels of oxybenzone that may pose a potential risk is 62 parts per trillion. The concentration level is equivalent to a cup of water in the Central Park Reservoir in New York City.聽The amount of the ingredient in the seawater near the tourist-friendly areas where the researchers took their samples was far more concentrated. At beaches in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands, concentration levels ran between 800 parts per trillion and 1.4 parts per million. The authors estimated that 10 percent of the world鈥檚 coral reefs are at risk of high exposure.
鈥淭his study raises our awareness of a seldom-realized threat to the health of our reef life,鈥 Pat Lindquist, executive director of the Napili Bay and Beach Foundation in Maui, . 鈥淭his knowledge is critical to us as we consider actions to mitigate threats or improve on current practices.鈥