Sunscreen Chemicals and Marine Life

Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification Threats

I'm cross-posting here from my Cosmetic Chemistry Blog on Medium to share about the effects on marine life on a standard ingredient in sunscreen.

This widely used chemical is 2-Ethylhexyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoate, commonly known as EHDAB. It's a commonly used organic ultraviolet filter found in many sunscreens.

The study focused on the accumulation of EHDAB in the aquatic larvae of midge flies and its subsequent transfer to crucian carp fish through the food chain. Remarkably, the larvae reached a steady state of EHDAB concentration within 10 days of exposure, and the substance was found to biomagnify in the fish, particularly in their liver and kidneys.

Check out rhe published research and the story behind my Medium blog here