Home The Sun Culture Ultraviolet Radiation Types of UV Sources of UV What Factors Affect UVR Levels Phototherapy Solariums Fluorescent, Neon Halogen Lights Industrial Arc Welding Industrial UVR Lamps 'Black Lights Germicide UV Lamps UV Lasers Photosensitisation Exposure to UVR Skin Structure Skin Types Need for Vitamin D Effects of UVR How to avoid UVR What is PF, SPF, UPF, EPF Hats Sunglasses Clothing and Textiles Shade Devices Windows Sunscreens Chemical Barriers Physical Barriers Water Pollution From Sunscreen Natural/Organic sunscreens Resources and Links

Water Pollution from Sunscreens

As mentioned above there are concerns about the physical barriers, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, entering the water and aquatic food chain.  There is also real concern about the endocrine disrupting chemical barriers entering water bodies.  Their routes of entry to water bodies are numerous.  We apply sunscreens before we go swimming in the ocean, lakes, rivers, and dams.  We wash the sunscreens from our body in the shower or bath. 

The endocrine disrupting chemicals in sunscreens have the potential to cause profound physiological changes in the reproductive and neurological systems of humans and wildlife.  According to recent research many endocrine disrupting chemicals used in personal care products are found downstream of water-treatment plants in rivers and in saltwater.  Many of these chemicals survive biodegradations quite well and go on to disrupt and harm aquatic life, once again entering the food chain.