Review Of Fate Exposure And Effects Of Sunscreens In Aquatic Environments And Implications For Sunscreen Usage And Human Health

Regular use of sunscreens has been shown to reduce the risk of sunburn and skin cancer, and slow photoaging of skin. Sunscreens can rinse off into water where people are swimming or wading, and can also enter bodies of water through wastewater such as from bathing or showering. As a result, the ultraviolet (UV) filters - the active ingredients in sunscreens that reduce the amount of UV radiation on skin - have been detected in the water, sediment, and animal tissues in aquatic environments. Because the impact of these filters on aquatic ecosystems is not fully understood, assessment is needed to better understand their environmental impacts. This report calls on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct an ecological risk assessment of UV filters to characterize the possible risks to aquatic ecosystems and the species that live in them. EPA should focus on environments more likely to be exposed such as those with heavy recreational use, or where wastewater and urban runoff enter the water. The risk assessment should cover a broad range of species and biological effects and could consider potential interacting effects among UV filters and with other environmental stresses such as climate change. In addition, the report describes the role of sunscreens in preventing skin cancer and what is known about how human health could be affected by potential changes in usage. While the need for a risk assessment is urgent, research is needed to advance understanding of both risks to the environment from UV filters and impacts to human health from changing sunscreen availability and usage.

Sunscreens and a variety of other products contain chemical ultraviolet (UV) filters that absorb or block the sun's radiation and thereby help mitigate harms to human skin from the sun. The 2022 NASEM report Review of Fate, Exposure, and Effects of Sunscreens in Aquatic Environments and Implications for Sunscreen Usage and Human Health called on the EPA to conduct an ecological risk assessment of UV filters to characterize the possible risks to aquatic ecosystems and the species that live in them. However, the 2022 report also identified a number of knowledge gaps and research barriers that may limit understanding of those ecological risks. To share progress and identify opportunities to further address gaps and barriers, NASEM hosted a workshop in Washington, D.C., on January 23?24, 2023, entitled Workshop to Advance Research on Understanding Environmental Effects of UV Filters in Sunscreens. Through a series of prepared talks, panel discussions, and structured breakout discussions, participants examined the 2022 report and its management context; explored data needs and analytical challenges relevant to the development of accurate toxicity metrics for UV filters; and suggested opportunities to improve and standardize toxicity testing for these chemicals. These proceedings has been prepared by the workshop rapporteur as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop.

This book provides a comprehensive and authoritative review of the chemical analysis of UV filters in coastal waters and their impact on the marine environment. The sun care is today the most important sector within the cosmetics industry, with annual increases in sales. The main components of sunscreens, organic and inorganic UV filters, have been detected in many coastal regions, with the highest concentrations in coastal areas under high anthropogenic pressure. Moreover, these compounds have been found to be bioaccumulated in aquatic biota causing biological and toxicological responses; some organic UV filters act as endocrine disruptors in aquatic biota, affecting survival, behavior, growth, development and reproduction. On the other hand, inorganic UV filters, mainly based on nanoparticles, have been demonstrated to have various impacts on marine organisms, such as inducing oxidative stress in abalones, accumulating in microalgae, affecting the immune response in mussels, bleaching corals, and genotoxicity in fish, among others. All these effects of sunscreens on the marine environment highlight the need for more stringent and environmentally friendly regulations. This book covers the latest analytical methodologies used in assessing the impact of UV filters impact on marine waters, especially on marine biota, and also critiques the global regulation of UV filters and the environmental risk of using sunscreens. Featuring specific case studies of the environmental effects of sunscreens in the Mediterranean Sea and Hawaii, which highlight the importance of balancing human health with environmental health of coastal ecosystems, it will appeal not only to scientists and students from various disciplines (environmental chemistry, biology, ecology, biogeochemistry, fisheries and climate change among others), but also to environmental managers wanting to promote new restrictive regulations on the use of UV filters, and to professionals from the cosmetic industry interested in the development of eco-friendly sunscreens.

This volume offers an overview of the occurrence and distribution of personal care products in continental and marine waters, presents analytical methods and degradation technologies and discusses their impact on human health. Experts from different disciplines highlight major issues for each family of compounds related to their occurrence in the water column as well as in solid and biota samples, methodological strategies for their analysis, non-conventional degradation technologies, (eco)toxicity data and their human and environmental risk assessment. The book also includes a general introduction to personal care products, covering their properties, use, behaviour and regulatory framework, and a final chapter identifying knowledge gaps and future research trends. It will appeal to experts from various fields of research, including analytical and environmental chemistry, toxicology and environmental engineering.

In the 1970s, flame retardants began to be added to synthetic materials to meet strict flammability standards. Over the years, diverse flame retardants have been manufactured and used in various products. Some flame retardants have migrated out of the products, and this has led to widespread human exposure and environmental contamination. There also is mounting evidence that many flame retardants are associated with adverse human health effects. As a result, some flame retardants have been banned, restricted, or voluntarily phased out of production and use. This publication develops a scientifically based scoping plan to assess additive, nonpolymeric organohalogen flame retardants as a class for potential chronic health hazards under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, including cancer, birth defects, and gene mutations.

"Sun Protection in Man" looks at the beneficial and harmful effects of solar radiation. The physiological consequences of sun exposure have been systematically studied starting at the end of the nineteenth century and we now have accumulated knowledge about how Caucasian and Asian skins reacts to solar radiation. The chemical effects of solar ultraviolet radiation have been analyzed with particular emphasis during the second half of the twentieth century. Research on micro-organisms has allowed us to understand the mechanisms of UV-induced mutagenesis and photosensitization. Studies with laboratory rodents have opened the path to the understanding of UV-induced immune-depression, carcinogenesis, photo-damage and photo-aging. The results of these studies have enabled other scientists to investigate the same phenomena in human organs such as the skin and the eye. UV radiation damages hair, as well. The present knowledge in these fields is summarized in some of the chapters of this monograph. Mass phenomenon in Europe with the generalization of summer vacations which were a consequence of social reforms introducing the concept of "paid vacations". This created a need for protection and opened a market for sunscreens. This monograph is concerned with sun protection as a whole and is not just "another book on sunscreens". Nonetheless, in these days of general concern, it is important to learn about the efficiency of sunscreens. Several authors discuss how to reduce the number of impinging photons and explain why sunscreens seem to offer less protection than expected. Guidelines are given on how to use sunscreens in everyday life, which are expressed rigorously though clearly, for access to the common reader. Our knowledge on the relationship between sun and humans is at the early stages of development. Industrial and commercial activities are concerned by the development of this knowledge, and rules have been and will be promulgated to guarantee efficacy and safety of sun-products. It is hoped that this monograph will be of interest to the scholar, the layman and the legislator.