Are UV filters better together? A comparison of the toxicity of individual ultraviolet filters and off-the-shelf sunscreens to Daphnia magna

Abstract

Organic ultraviolet filters (UVFs) are known to contaminate many aquatic ecosystems, with much environmental contamination attributed to the use of UVF-containing skin care products such as sunscreens during aquatic recreation. Most studies addressing the impact of sunscreen contamination have focused on the effects of UVFs under the assumption that they are the primary contaminants of concern from sunscreen pollution; however, the extent to which the toxicity of UVFs is representative of the environmental impacts of the whole sunscreen mixture is unknown. To address this knowledge gap, this study compared the mixture toxicity of five off-the-shelf sunscreen spray products containing the UVFs avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate, octocrylene and oxybenzone to the toxicity of each UVF in isolation to the freshwater invertebrate Daphnia magna. It was found that sunscreen toxicity was not proportional to their total UVF content, as the sunscreen containing the fewest UVFs was approximately equivalent to the sunscreen with the most UVFs, causing ≥90 % mortality and inhibiting all daphnid reproduction over 21 d exposures. Sunscreen toxicity was typically lower than expected when compared to the toxicity of each individual UVF within the mixture, as some sunscreens causing ≤20 % mortality contained octocrylene and/or oxybenzone at concentrations exceeding those which caused 90 % mortality during exposure to the UVF alone. Despite sunscreens causing large impairments in reproduction, growth and metabolism, poor correlations existed between the severity of most sublethal endpoints with respect to the measured UVF content of each sunscreen. Overall, these results indicate that potential antagonistic relationships between sunscreen ingredients can greatly reduce the toxicity of UVFs, creating more uncertainty regarding the level of threat that UVFs pose to the environment as a result of sunscreen contamination.