Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Toxin Research / 09.11.2018
South Pacific Island Nation First Country to Ban Environmentally Harmful Sunscreens
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ariel Kushmaro and Esti Kramarsky-Winter
Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben Gurion University
Beer Sheva, Israel
The Republic of Palau, a South Pacific island nation, became the world's first country to ban sunscreen products containing environmentally harmful ingredients
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this announcement? What are the main findings?
Response: Coral reefs are important ecosystems that are under threat due to global human driven climate change. In addition to global changes, local hazards such as point pollution by eutrophication, dredging and chemical pollution are exacerbating and promoting reef destruction at local levels. This destruction affects not only island nations that depend on these reefs for protection and livelihood, they affect humanity as a whole as they are an important source for food and novel drugs and new materials.
Our recent studies have shown that chemicals found in most commercial sunscreens and creams used to protect humans from deleterious effects of UV A and UVB wash off into the environment are persistent, have endocrine disruptive effects, and thus deleteriously affect marine organisms including corals. (more…)
!["Protect Coral Reefs" by NOAA's National Ocean Service is licensed under CC BY 2.0](https://medicalresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/coral-reefs.jpg)