That coral were risk of extinction was known. What, however, reveals a study by the environmental laboratory Haereticu s of Virginia, published in the journal “ Archives of Environmental Contamination & amp; Toxicology “is the fact that this risk derives largely from the common sunscreen . What protects our skin destroys the environment. In particular, it would be harmful to the reefs’ s oxybenzone , indicated among the members as BP-3 and content in a variety of solar products.
This element, even in small amounts, causes coral bleaching, to cause death, at worst. The oxybenzone is especially damaging to corals newborn , in fact alters the DNA and destroys the endocrinological system. In addition, interfere with hormones, causing deformations, which cause entrapment inside the exoskeleton.
At the head of the study biologist Craig Down , which called to avoid using products containing oxybenzone especially in the areas concerned. According to his study, in fact, only in the Caribbean region already 80% of coral reefs have been destroyed just by the sunscreen. Coral reefs end between 6,000 and 14,000 tons of sunscreen and it is estimated that more than 3,500 companies, produce creams that contain oxybenzone used as a UV filter. This amount, according to the study, puts at risk at least 10% of the world’s coral reefs. Obviously, the study found a higher concentration of the substance involved in the most crowded by tourists, like the aforementioned Islands and Hawaii .
This study opens a new page in the responsible tourism: a gesture considered harmless as slather on the sunscreen, it becomes highly harmful to the environment. Sunscreen is no longer indispensable product to take with you in every beach holiday then, but a real destroyer of a priceless heritage of biodiversity, such as those that contain coral reefs, already deeply affected by global warming and overfishing .
The reef threatened by sunscreen
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