OXYBENZONE - CONTAMINATION
• It is found nearshore in Hawaii from 136 pptrillion to 11,000 pptrillion
• It is found in parts per million in resort swimming pools and hot tubs
• Swimmers are a significant source of oxybenzone pollution
• Sewage, from leaky cesspits, septic leach fields, and even municipal discharge, is another significant source of oxybenzone pollution.
• Oxybenzone washes off into the sewage when you shower, and it gets into your skin/body when you apply it, and some of it is discharged from your body through your urine.
• Several studies published in the past year show that some sources of drinking water can be contaminated with oxybenzone - water purification systems don’t always remove it during treatment.
• BP3 = OXYBENZONE. BP1, 4HB, & 4DHB ARE METABOLITES OF OXYBENZONE. OC = OCTOCRYLENE; EHMC = METHOXYCINNAMATE; ng/g = parts per billion
THIS IS THE EDIBLE PART OF THE FISH
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2/30 Bioaccumulation of UV filters in fish Muscle analysis
OXYBENZONE
• ENDOCRINE DISRUPTOR
• REDUCED SPERM COUNT
• REDUCED GONAD TISSUE
• REDUCED THYROID FUNCTION
• REDUCED NEUROLOGICAL FUNCTION
• DEVELOPMENTAL DISRUPTOR
• CELL/CANCER PROLIFERATOR
• CAUSES DNA DAMAGE
• CAUSES CORAL BLEACHING
• CAUSES OXIDATIVE STRESS IN THE PRESENCE OF SUNLIGHT
Depending on species, metabolizes into: Benzophenone-1 Benzophenone-2
OXYBENZONE IN OUR BODIES AND WILDLIFE
• A number of studies have shown that 96% of the U.S. population is contaminated with oxybenzone
• When you put an oxybenzone-containing lotion on your body, some of it is absorbed by your body.
• Oxybenzone will bioaccumulate in fat tissue, semen, placental tissue, breastmilk.
• Several studies have shown that it is found in natural populations of bird eggs, fish (gonads and muscle), coral, shrimp, humans, and marine mammals
• Oxybenzone can transfer from the mother to her infant via breastmilk, in both humans and dolphins
GENOTOXICITY AND CANCER
• Oxybenzone and metabolites are documented mutagens (Ames Test)
• Causes DNA damage in coral, sea urchin and fish embryos and sperm
• Oxybenzone induces a more rapid rate of cell proliferation in cancer cells that are receptive to estrogenic compounds (e.g., breast cancer cells)
• Study this year shows oxybenzone to increases metastasis potential in non-estrogenic receptive cells
• Associated with increased endometriosis in women
TOXIC EFFECTS IN FISH
• Oxybenzone is a Sexual Endocrine Disruptor in Fish
• Male Fish become feminized
• Make egg proteins (when they shouldn’t)
• Reduced sperm count and viability
• Inhibits protogynoous hermaphroditism (PG) in wrasses, parrotfish, angelfish, gobies, eels, emperor fish and sea urchins – PG is a necessary social/developmental behavior that if inhibited, could lead to localized extinctions of these species
• Female Fish will have lower production of eggs, and reduced viability of eggs
• Causes behavioral changes in fish, making them less territorial, reduction in libido
CHORIOGENIN mRNA INDUCTION IN MALE MEDAKA, ORYZIAS LATIPES AS A BIOMARKER OF ENDOCRINE DISRUPTION. LEE C1, NA JG, LEE KC, PARK K. AQUAT TOXICOL. 2002 DEC 3;61(3-4):233-41.
• Choriogenin in females is produced in the liver, travels through the
blood stream, and is the major protein matrix for egg envelope (Zona
radiata)
• Only produced in sexually mature females
• Males will produce it when exposed to estrogenic endocrine disruptors
Genetically Modified Medaka Estrogen Endocrine Axis Disruption Inappropriate induction of choriogenin
Image Area
Head
Liver – site of Choriogenin-GFP expression
Tail
Control
Benzophenone - 1 Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3)
TOXIC EFFECTS IN MAMMALS • Oxybenzone causes contact dermatitis in 16%-25% of the population
• Oxybenzone causes toxicity to sperm development and sperm viability
• Oxybenzone causes reduced prostate weight in mature males, and reduces uterine weight in juvenile females
• Several recent studies have shown a strong association between urinary and seminal oxybenzone concentrations and increased reproductive diseases and reduced fecundity
• Oxybenzone has also been associated with altered timing of breast development in girls
• 2014 Allergen of the Year by the American Contact Dermatitis Society
Verhulst and Goossens recently published a review and update of cosmetic products that have been reported to produce a disease called Contact Urticaria. Causative agents included Phenyoxyethanol, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide, Benzophenone-3 (Oxybenzone), Menthol, and a number of plant-derived ingredients including wheat and wheat protein hydrolysates. Evidence of contact urticaria and to a lesser degree contact-mediated anaphylaxis was reported to be caused by Benzophenone-3 (Oxybenzone).
Lien Verhulst and An Goossens (2016) Contact Dermatitis: Cosmetic components causing contact urticaria: a review and update. Contact Dermatitis, 75, 333–344
Oxybenzone & Hirschsprung’s Disease
• Oxybenzone impairs migration of embryonic enteric neural crest cells (important role in pathogenesis of disease)
• Dose-response relationship between oxybenzone concentration and cell pathology
• Between 1980-1984 in Maryland, 1 in 5,000 births with HD
• In some municipalities, estimates are as high as 1:300 with HD
Huo et al. (2016) The relationship between prenatal exposure to oxybenzone and Hirschspring’s disease. Chemosphere 144:1091-1097
The FDA is demanding more studies and safety data from manufacturers, despite decades of world-wide experience. The latest batch of rejections is particularly notable because one of the ingredients, ecamsule, has been approved by the FDA since 2006 as a prescription drug. Sunscreen makers simply want FDA permission to use it in over-the-counter products. The FDA is hung up on what it called “the riddle of dermal absorption” in a September 2014 presentation to its outside science advisory board. The fear is the new sunscreens will seep into the skin and pose some speculative and so-far-unspecified health risk over the long run, and thus the agency wants manufacturers to conduct randomized controlled pharmacokinetic trials. The FDA also notes that earlier sunscreens had been approved in a “paleoregulatory” period characterized by a “lack of adequate analytical methods.” In other words, the FDA would have rejected the older sunscreens too if it had known better.
Wall Street Journal March 13, 2015
FDA Monograph Sunscreen Ingredients Amount of Ray Protection Chemical (C) or
Physical (P) Drug Label Name (INCI/Common Name) UVA UVB
Aminobenzoic acid (PABA) Minimal Extensive C Avobenzone (Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane) Extensive Limited C Cinoxate Limited Extensive C Dioxybenzone (Benzophenone-8) Considerable Extensive C Ecamsule (Terephthalylidene Dicamphor Sulfonic Acid) Extensive limited C Homosalate Minimal Extensive C Menthyl anthranilate Considerable Extensive C Octocrylene Limited Extensive C Octinoxate (Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate) limited Extensive C Octisalate (Ethylhexyl salicylate) Minimal Extensive C Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3) Considerable Extensive C Padimate O (Ethylhexyl Dimethyl PABA) Minimal Extensive C Ensulizole (Phenylbenzimidazole Sulfonic Acid) Minimal Extensive C Sulisobenzone (Benzophenone-4) Considerable Extensive C Titanium dioxide Considerable Extensive P Trolamine salicylate (TEA-Salicylate) Minimal Extensive C Zinc oxide Extensive Extensive P
Industry Options for Protection against UVA
BAN SALES OF PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS CONTAINING OXYBENZONE FOR HAWAII
WHAT AND WHY JANUARY 17, 2017
Pat Lindquist President, Napili Bay and Beach Foundation
Craig Downs, PhD.
Executive Director, Haereticus Environmental Laboratory
WHAT IS THE ISSUE?
Dying Reefs • Poor coral
recruitment • Disappearing
Harlequin shrimp
• Disappearing urchins
OCEAN IS A CHEMICAL SOUP
WHICH CHEMICALS ARE PRESENT?
WHICH ONES ARE CAUSING HARM?
SUNSCREEN SHEEN
COULD A CHEMICAL OR CHEMICALS IN SUNSCREEN PRODUCTS BE ON OUR CORAL
REEFS, AND
CAUSING THEM HARM?
Cornell University conducted a study in response to observing “dead zone” in highly visited swimming areas at several beaches on the Big Island 250 yards away from swimming area, reefs were fine Conclusion: swimmers bring toxic elements to reefs; sunscreens are one of those factors
96-hour exposure to 100 ppbillion Top aerosol sunscreen brand
©2016 Haereticus
OXYBENZONE, A COMMON SUNSCREEN COMPONENT IS TOXIC TO CORAL
• TOXIC EFFECTS ARE SEEN AS LOW AS 72 PARTS PER TRILLION
• CAUSES CORAL BLEACHING - PREVENT CORAL RESTORATION
OXYBENZONE ALSO DAMAGES FISH EMBRYOS
©2016 Haereticus
DOING THE MATH
• 78 MILLION VISITOR DAYS IN 2015, AND MORE IN 2016
• AMERICAN DERMATOLOGY ASSOC. ESTIMATES PEOPLE SPEND 4 HOURS ON BEACH AND USE 72 GRAMS (2.5 OUNCES) OF SUNSCREEN IN THAT TIME
• 78 MILLION X 72 GRAMS/DAY => 12, 346 LBS (6,173 TONS) OF SUNSCREEN “GOOP” EVERY YEAR
• AT 3% OXYBENZONE CONCENTRATION IN SUNSCREENS ALONE => 186
TONS/YEAR ON HAWAIIAN REEFS
Napili Bay–(200,000 visitors a year)
= 14,400 kilograms of sunscreen product per year (~31,747 pounds/year)
= 432 kilograms or oxybenzone per year (952 pounds /year)
Hanauma Bay – (2015 averaged 2,600 swimmers/day) = 187 kilograms of sunscreen lotion a day. = 5.61 kilograms of oxybenzone a day (3% oxybenzone). = 168 kilograms of oxybenzone per month (~370 pounds per month) = 68,255 kilograms of sunscreen product per year (150, 476 lbs/year) = 2,048 kilograms of oxybenzone per year (4,515 pounds /year)
Waimea Bay 4,780 ppTrillion
Ko Olina Cove 568 ppTrillion Ala Moana
230 ppTrillion
Waikiki (Kuhio Park) 11,300 ppTrillion
Oxybenzone Concentrations Oahu, Hawaii, U.S.A.
Summer 2015
©2016 Haereticus
0 ppt
0 ppt
868 ppt 340 ppt 1,096 ppt
Hana
La Perouse Bay
136 ppt (Baby Beach) 4,252 ppt 996 ppt
344 ppt
1,904 ppt, Honolua Bay 607 ppt 881 ppt
125 ppt
Oxybenzone Contamination
Summer 2015
©2016 Haereticus
Honolua Bay, Maui, Hawaii July 2015
Oxybenzone Pollution
1,904 pptrillion
1,655 pptrillion
©2016 Haereticus
Special Use Permit, Natural Areas Reserve, ‘Ahihi Kina’u, 6/2015-6/2016
425 pptrillion
868 pptrillion
July 27, 2015, 15:00 HST
Oxybenzone Pollution
Source of Contamination
Aerosol-spray Sunscreen Products
~450 meters
Makena State Park, Maui, Hawaii, USA
How far does aerosol sunscreen mist carry?
WHY – SO WHAT? • REEFS HELP PROTECT HAWAIIAN ISLANDS FROM COASTAL EROSION • HEALTHY REEFS PROVIDE SUSTENANCE – FOOD FOR PEOPLE AND LARGER
MARINE ANIMALS
• AND HEALTHY REEFS ARE GOOD FOR HAWAII’S ECONOMY: • LOVELY BEACHES, CLEAR, WARM, AQUAMARINE WATERS, AND COLORFUL REEF LIFE ARE A BIG DRAW 2015 (HTA) = 12 MILLION VISITORS, 78 MILLION VISITOR DAYS, CONTRIBUTING $15 BILLION TO COFFERS IN TOURIST DOLLARS
WHAT ELSE?
• HAWAII’S REEFS HAVE SUFFERED MAJOR LOSSES (40% SINCE 2001)
• ONE KNOWN CAUSE OF REEF LIFE MORBIDITY IS OXYBENZONE IN SUNSCREENS
BANNING OXYBENZONE PRODUCT SALES IN HAWAII’S STORES (RESOLUTION NO. 67216) CAN BE AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO
PROTECT YOUR VALUABLE REEFS!