Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Sunscreens cause coral bleaching by promoting viral infections

"Coral bleaching (i.e., the release of coral symbiotic zooxanthellae) has negative impacts on biodiversity and functioning of reef ecosystems and their production of goods and services. This increasing world-wide phenomenon is associated with temperature anomalies, high irradiance, pollution, and bacterial diseases. Recently, it has been demonstrated that personal care products, including sunscreens, have an impact on aquatic organisms similar to that of other contaminants." in Environmental Health Perspectives, vol.116,no.4 (April 2008)