Journal
INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT
Volume 17, Issue 5, Pages 926-939Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ieam.4454
Keywords
Coral toxicity; environmental risk assessment (ERA); Sunscreen; UV filter
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Recent investigations have looked into the potential impact of UV filters in sunscreens on coral health, with initial findings suggesting toxicity to coral life stages. However, further research is needed to determine if corals are more susceptible to UV filters. Robust experimental procedures for coral ecotoxicological studies are deemed essential for proper hazard assessment and standardized tests systems are required for regulatory decision making.
Ultraviolet (UV) filters used in sunscreens are among the anthropogenic substances that may enter the marine environment by both indirect (via wastewater) and direct pathways (leisure activities). Owing to the recent global decline in coral population, the impact of those UV filters on the coral health is currently under increased investigation. First results from scientists suggest that some of the filters may be toxic to various coral life stages, but an initial cross comparison with existing data from other freshwater organisms does not indicate that corals are specifically more susceptible to UV filters than other standard species. In fact, the available data leading to this conclusion is still vague and based on toxicity and bioaccumulation tests with corals, which are both still at the research stage. To facilitate a proper hazard assessment, robust experimental procedures for coral ecotoxicological studies are considered mandatory. In other words, additional steps should be taken to standardize and validate such new test systems to generate reliable results, which then can be used in regulatory decision making. Furthermore, to facilitate a more detailed and site-specific environmental risk assessment in the marine area, an application-based exposure scenario must be developed. Until these data and tools become available, environmental hazard and risk assessments may be carried out using existing data from freshwater organisms and existing tonnage-based exposure scenarios as a potential surrogate. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;00:1-14. (c) 2021 SETAC
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