To enjoy a safe summer with your child, it is important to be well equipped, especially with regard to the sun, whose ultraviolet rays are harmful to his fragile skin. Sunscreen creams are flooding the shelves of drugstores and supermarkets. It’s hard to find your way through so many choices. However, their use at the beach, although essential, is not without consequences on the seas and oceans.
To enjoy a safe summer with your child, it is important to be well equipped, especially with regard to the sun, whose ultraviolet rays are harmful to his fragile skin. Sunscreen creams are flooding the shelves of drugstores and supermarkets. It’s hard to find your way through so many choices. However, their use at the beach, although essential, is not without consequences on the seas and oceans.
Different ways to pollute with sunscreen products
Just like diapers (link to eco diapers articles), the use of a sunscreen impacts nature. By slathering on sunscreen to protect ourselves, we unwittingly contribute to water pollution. In fact, when you introduce your child to the joys of swimming, your child’s skin and your own skin release a small amount (estimated at 25%) of sunscreen into the water.
When you consider the number of people swimming all the time and all over the world, the bill ends up being quite high. Every year, some 25,000 tons of sunscreen are insidiously dumped into our seas and oceans.
In addition, the spray formats let some of this sunscreen escape into the air and fall back onto the sand to be eventually washed into the ocean.
Chemical components in the collimator
Two chemical components of sunscreens are particularly pointed out: oxybenzone and octynoxate.
These substances, in particular the sunscreens present in sunscreen formulas, are known to be harmful to the aquatic environment.
Being aware of the problem, some states like Hawaii have even decided to ban certain sunscreen products deemed harmful to the environment.
The impact of sunscreen residues on the oceans
The vulnerability of corals
A quarter of marine life depends on coral reefs. These organisms represent a major ecosystem with a crucial role for underwater life. Corals have a unique growth and reproduction cycle. Their power of absorption is widely demonstrated and, of course, corals absorb everything that comes their way.
Scientific research has shown that the chemicals in sunscreens are harmful to ocean ecosystems. Specialists have noted a discoloration of coral reefs in recent decades, a visual indicator of the stressful conditions they are undergoing.
The importance of posidonia
The name Posidonia probably doesn’t mean anything to you and yet this aquatic plant covers the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. It is vital because it constitutes a reservoir of oxygen for the seabed and contributes to the growth of part of the local fauna. Posidonia is one of the 5 protected species in the Mediterranean.
Some chemical residues from sun creams, such as sunscreens, can accumulate in the roots of this plant and could lead, according to some researchers, to the presence of endocrine disruptors in the food chain. How do they get there? Through fish and shellfish that feed on the leaves and organisms attached to them.
Choosing an ocean-friendly sunscreen
However, it is not possible to do without sunscreen. Cosmetology researchers have found a compromise between effective sun protection and the fight against marine pollution.
Sunscreen products made from mineral ingredients such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are less hazardous. Although biodegradable and more natural, it cannot be proven indisputably that they are perfectly neutral.
And to continue in a coherent approach, the companies which invest in this ecological way generally choose eco-designed packaging.
The protection of marine ecosystems has become an imperative that cannot be ignored. À
individual level, opting for an eco responsible sunscreen and, in particular
respectful of the oceans, represents a concrete ecological gesture.
