Universidade de Vigo warns about the potential impact of sunscreens on the marine environment

An essay on the effects of eight sunscreen protectos on three marine species indicates that they are not completely innocous. 

You can read the whole article in Spanish here.

Ricardo Beiras is in the Galician newspaper La Voz de Galicia discussing the value of Galician estuaries and the need to protect them

You can read the press release in Galician here.

In recent years, a large number of sunscreens have emerged to protect our skin. Most of them are made up of simple or compound aromatic structures, which can pose a threat to marine ecosystems. In order to understand their effects on the marine environment, different ecotoxicological bioassays were carried out using planktonic organisms on leachates from eight different solar sunscreen formulations.

You may have noticed that the fruit bags in your supermarket have for a while now been labelled as biodegradable. These shall not be confused with the bags you are given (or rather charged for) at the cashier, which are recycled.

A biodegradable material in the presence of oxygen is converted into CO₂ and water by the action of microorganisms in the natural environment, whether terrestrial or aquatic. Unlike most conventional plastics, whose molecular chains are composed exclusively of carbon atoms, biodegradable plastics have oxygen atoms resulting from ester bonds in their molecular structure. These make these chains weaker against the action of certain bacteria and fungi capable of breaking them in periods ranging from a few weeks to a few years, depending on environmental conditions. This is not comparable to conventional plastics, which in low-energy environments, at least in theory, have the potential to persist for centuries. If in addition, we take into consideration that we can make biodegradable plastics from biomass instead of fossil fuels, we can turn these materials into renewable resources.

The Ecotox team has recently conducted a study that focuses on the assessment of the potential impact that polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based polymers may have once they are released into the marine environment, in terms of biodegradation in seawater (assessed by the percentage of the Theoretical Oxygen Demand, or % ThOD, of each compound) and aquatic toxicity, according to the standard toxicity test using Paracentrotus lividus larvae. 

The article has been published in Polymers as part of the Special Issue Water-Soluble and Insoluble Polymers and Biopolymers for Biomedical, Environmental, and Biological Applications and is available online:

Abstract: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/21/3742
HTML Version: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/21/3742/htm
PDF Version: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/21/3742/pdf

Prof. Beiras latest article on standard methods for the classification of aquatic #toxicity for biologically active household chemicals (#BAHC) present in #plastics, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetic products has been recently published with SpringerNature Digital in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. You may access the whole article at  ===>>> https://rdcu.be/cyJ7W