1. sunscreens and coral reefs
Janet Staples-Edwards MD

2. coral damage pollution acidity warmer temperatures
overfishing and invasive species
sunscreens
Many divers are already warned not to wear sunscreen near corals, but usually for the general reason that introducing foreign chemicals into the water is a bad idea. a study in 2008 put some scientific evidence behind the warning..

3. 14,000 tons of sunscreen wash off swimmers every year
The copious sunscreen that we dutifully slather on before going into the ocean
14,000 tons of sunscreen
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4. anatomy of coral polyp mouth GI tract
tentacles to sting and capture prey
an animal like sea anemone or jellyfish; filter feed at night and tentacles sting prey.they form colonies and secrete limestone

5. zooxanthellae (algae)
Single celled plants (algae) live in the coral and photosynthesize food for the polyps.They provide the color and nutrition for the coral

6. coral anatomy
The coral structure is composed of the animal, the polyp, and the plant, the algae, and in hard corals CaCO3 or limestone skeleton is secreted by the polyps. symbiotic relationship between the polyp and the algae. the polyp can slip in and out of the limestone to avoid predators. The single celled algae, called zooxanthellae provide coral with food energy through photosynthesis. Algae needs UV radiation for photosynthesis and coral usually found in shallower waters. Algae also produces oxygen. The coral provides a protected environment for the algae and the compounds needed for photosynthesis.

7. The algae cells provide the food by photosynthesis and they need sunlight in shallower waters for this. Corals usually in shallower waters so that UV radiation can be obtained

8. barrier reefs 100,000 to 30,000,000 years
hundreds to thousands of polyps form the coral and many species of corals of different colors and structures form a coral reef or coral atoll. after 100,000 to 30 million years you get structures like this

9. coral bleaching
sometimes when corals become physically stressed, the polyps expel their algae cells and the colony takes on a stark white appearance known as bleaching. If the the polyps go for too long without the zooxanthellae, coral bleaching results in coral death

10. coral bleaching
if algae return the reef can survive; if not the coral dies. 80% coral reefs in Caribbean have died

11. published in National Geographic 2008
found that sunscreens that contain oxybenzone cause corals to bleach

12. Robert Danavaro’s study
His team conducted several in situ studies with the addition of different concentrations of sunscreens to common hard coral species. Studies were performed from 2003 to they collected nubbins of coral from reefs scattered throughout the tropics: the Caribbean off of Mexico, the Indian Ocean off Thailand, the Red Sea off Egypt, and the Pacific near Indonesia.
Danavaro, R. et al. Environ. Health Perspectives April 2008

13. 2008 study National Geographic
when they incubated the nubbins with varying concentrations of sunscreen chemicals coral bleaching occurred within 4 days. control nubbins incubated in plain seawater remained healthy
National Geographic “Swimmers Sunscreen Killing off Coral”

14. zooanthellae leave the polyp
samples of water contained zooanthallae that had detached from the coral nubbins. and viral particles

15. water samples from exposed coral showed zooxanthellae algae that had detached from the coral nubbins. Instead of a healthy brownish green the loose algae were pale or transparent and punched full of holes. Viral particles were abundant as well, suggesting that the algae harbored a latent infection that was activated by something in the sunscreens. What was surprising to the investigators was that the same latent infection was found in corals from so many places, all over the world. Several chemical components of sunscreen were tested and 3 UV filtering chemicals caused the release of viral particles and bleached the coral.

16. virus activation
samples of water drawn at hours after exposure were full of symbiotic algae that had detached from the coral nubbins. Viral particles were abundant as well suggesting that the algae had harbored a latent infection that was activated by the sunscreen chemicals. most living cells have latent viruses. sunscreen chemicals that bleached the coral were 3 commonly used UV filtering chemicals cinnamate which is UVB protection found in sunscreens and cosmetics
benzophenone
camphor PABA
tested were butylparaben (a preservative) oxybenzone (a sunscreen) octinoxate (a sunscreen) and 4 methybenzylidene camphor (a sunscreen). Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide were not in the research
other chemicals tested had no effect on the coral

17. common sunscreen ingredients tested
butylparaben
octinoxate
oxybenzone

18. antifungal preservative
butylparaben
antifungal preservative
cosmetics
shaving creams
moisturizers
shampoos
sunscreens

19. octinoxate oxybenzone
most common sunscreen ingredients

20. sunscreen for divers waterproof apply 30 minutes prior to dive
Caution!“natural” or “biodegradable” or “eco-friendly”
use zinc oxide and titanium dioxide sunscreens
avoid oxy, ,octi or benzo
don’t use sunscreen on a dive boat; cover up
read the label
no point in putting on sunscreen and jumping into the water
beware: use of “natural ingredients” or biodegradable” doesn’t always mean reef-friendly. labels that say biodegradable and eco-friendly are for acceptance in eco-nature parks

21. sunscreens to avoid oxybenzone Avoid “benzo” or “octi" octinoxate
UV filters
avobenzone,
octisalate
Avoid “benzo” or “octi"

22. choose mineral sunscreens!
zinc oxide
titanium oxide

24. South Florida, Hawaii, US Virgin Islands,
national park service in South Florida, Hawaii, US Virgin Islands, and Samoa are asking visitors to avoid sunscreens with oxybenzone
South Florida, Hawaii, US Virgin Islands,
American Samoa

25. banning sunscreen harming coral
February , 2017