sunscreen kills coral reefs

[donsu]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/82923650.html


The sunscreen that you dutifully slather on before a swim on the beach may be protecting your body—but a new study finds that the chemicals are also killing coral reefs worldwide.

Four commonly found sunscreen ingredients can awaken dormant viruses in the symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae that live inside reef-building coral species.

The chemicals cause the viruses to replicate until their algae hosts explode, spilling viruses into the surrounding seawater, where they can infect neighboring coral communities.

-snip-

The researchers estimate that 4,000 to 6,000 metric tons of sunscreen wash off swimmers annually in oceans worldwide, and that up to 10 percent of coral reefs are threatened by sunscreen-induced bleaching.

-snip-

Danovaro says banning sunscreen won't be necessary, and points out two simple things swimmers can do to reduce their impact on coral: Use sunscreens with physical filters, which reflect instead of absorb ultraviolet radiation; and use eco-friendly chemical sunscreens.
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as if all swimmers in the world are going to read this article

kiss the coral goodbye

[MADem]

1. All the swimmers do not HAVE to read the article.

The manufacturers of the product do, though.

They change the formula, and then use it as an advertising sales point to increase sales.

"We aren't assholes, THEY are!!!"

"Now With MAGIC INGREDIENT to save the coral!"

"Our patented CORAL-UP soothes your skin AND protects Mother Earth, too!"

Cue the happy cartoon with adorable dolphins and fish smiling as they cavort around the coral reef...

It writes itself.

[Richard Steele]

2. K&R

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. I don't think this is new knowledge.

I've visited places before where they don't allow you to wear regular sunscreen if you're going in the water due to the damage it does to the coral.

[dysfunctional press]

4. most corals probably won't survive what global warming is going to do to the oceans anyway...

but why couldn't those chemicals that cause the problems be banned as ingredients worldwide?

[DCKit]

5. Corals start life as free-floating and swimming larvae...

Given a chance, most species could settle in more hospitable, cooler waters, moving gradually farther north and south of the equator. If they weren't able to adapt in this manner, they would have been extinct many times over in recent geologic history. No comparison to the human time-line and even less to the creationist time-line, of course.

The short argument: If the human race intends to survive beyond the next hundred years, we've got to stop using the ocean as our toilet.

[dysfunctional press]

9. coral reefs take a long time to grow, and if/when we get 20+ feet of ocean level rise...

it's going to start to get awful dark for a lot of the existing coral reefs- plus the ph of the ocean is expected to get all screwy as well. i'm glad i got the chance to do some diving and see some reefs up close- future generations probably won't have as much opportunity to do so.

[CRF450]

6. You should see what it does to the water in hot tubs.

As a pool & spa cleaner durring the summer, I'd run into a few hot tubs with cloudy and nasty water as a result from people not washing the sunscreen off. So I'd end up having to empty the hot tub and refill it will clean pool water, which takes another 30 minutes.

[-..__...]

8. Something tells me that there's more than just sunscreen...

responsible for "cloudy" hot tub water. :smoke:

[CRF450]

10. No, not "that".

I dont know how it does it, but it does get the water cloudy. So its gotta be dumped either way. Now when its washed off in swimming pools its not enough to get it cloudy, but some gunky residue does collect on the side of the pool, which also has to be cleaned off.

[NeedleCast]

7. I'm going to take a pass on skin cancer

Sorry coral.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

11. Unfortunately, until they come up with a way to make SS nontoxic, that'll be how it rolls.