With UV filters damaging coral reefs, some beaches are now banning sun cream. What to do?
I used to think that worrying about sunscreens was the beach-bag equivalent of angsting about using a microwave: the latter’s energy-saving credentials and a lack of evidence of harm overrides doubt for me. And with sunscreen I reasoned that the protection it “delivers” (to borrow from the cosmetic industry’s lexicon) outweighs any niggling doubts about its ingredients. But then a little light holiday reading began to erode my confidence. Turns out that a 2008 study by Italian scientists found that UV filters in sunscreens causes coral bleaching. (This is an unfortunate ecological coincidence, as one of the original compounds for sunscreen was synthesised from an Australian coral reef.) According to researchers, 10,000 tonnes of UV filters are produced every year, about 10% of which are used by the 78 million tourists visiting sensitive coral areas. As a 20-minute slathered-up dip in the sea is enough to wash off 25% of the ingredients into the water, 4,000 to 6,000 tonnes of UV sunscreen are released annually into the sea, affecting 10% of the world’s coral reefs. Amazingly, given the risk of sun exposure to our health, some resorts now specify “no sunscreen”. – From the Guardian