IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i8p3270-d346943.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Toxicity and Hazards of Biodegradable and Non-Biodegradable Sunscreens to Aquatic Life of Quintana Roo, Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Miguel Hernández-Pedraza

    (Colegio Boston, Cancún, Quintana Roo C.P. 77535, Mexico)

  • José Adán Caballero-Vázquez

    (Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Unidad de Ciencias del Agua, Cancún, Quintana Roo C.P. 77500, Mexico)

  • Jorge Carlos Peniche-Pérez

    (Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Unidad de Ciencias del Agua, Cancún, Quintana Roo C.P. 77500, Mexico)

  • Ignacio Alejandro Pérez-Legaspi

    (División de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigación, Instituto Tecnológico de Boca del Rio, Tecnológico Nacional de Mexico Boca del Rio Mexico, Veracruz C.P. 94290, Mexico)

  • Diego Armando Casas-Beltran

    (Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Unidad de Ciencias del Agua, Cancún, Quintana Roo C.P. 77500, Mexico)

  • Jesús Alvarado-Flores

    (Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Unidad de Ciencias del Agua, Cancún, Quintana Roo C.P. 77500, Mexico)

Abstract

Sunscreens have spread widely into aquatic systems over the last 18 years in Quintana Roo, Mexico. This contamination is caused by intensive use as a result of leisure activities, as sunbathers apply the substances intensively (up to 83.75% of tourists and locals). Moreover, 25% of the compounds are mainly released into the water through topical products washing off. On average, 300,000 tourists arrive every week in Quintana Roo, increasing the contamination. In addition, there are no recent studies on sunscreen toxicity and the hazards this represents for the native zooplankton of Quintana Roo. In order to assess their adverse effects, acute toxicity was assessed for nine sunscreens (five non-biodegradable and four biodegradable) in four zooplankton species ( Brachionus cf ibericus , Cypridopsis vidua , Diaphanocypris meridana , and Macrothrix triserialis ). In total, 21 LC 50 values were obtained, which are the baseline values for estimating risk and for determining the expected maximum permissible concentration. Our data on toxicity to freshwater species compared to marine species indicate that freshwater species are more sensitive than marine species. In conclusion, biodegradable sunscreen posed a moderate risk, and non-biodegradable posed a high risk. Our outcomes suggested that the maximum permissible concentrations for the contamination of sunscreens were 8.00E-05 g/L for non-biodegradable and 1.60E-04 g/L for biodegradable sunscreens.

Suggested Citation

  • Miguel Hernández-Pedraza & José Adán Caballero-Vázquez & Jorge Carlos Peniche-Pérez & Ignacio Alejandro Pérez-Legaspi & Diego Armando Casas-Beltran & Jesús Alvarado-Flores, 2020. "Toxicity and Hazards of Biodegradable and Non-Biodegradable Sunscreens to Aquatic Life of Quintana Roo, Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-11, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:8:p:3270-:d:346943
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/8/3270/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/8/3270/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diego Armando Casas-Beltrán & Courtney Maloof Gallaher & Emely Hernandez Yac & Karelys Febles Moreno & Kenneth Voglesonger & Rosa María Leal-Bautista & Melissa Lenczewski, 2020. "Seaweed Invasion! Temporal Changes in Beach Conditions Lead to Increasing Cenote Usage and Contamination in the Riviera Maya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-22, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Teh Sabariah Binti Abd Manan & Salmia Beddu & Nur Liyana Mohd Kamal & Daud Mohamad & Zarina Itam & Taimur Khan & Affiani Machmudah & Denys Dutykh & Wan Hanna Melini Wan Mohtar & Hisyam Jusoh & Fadzli , 2021. "Ecological Risk Indicators for Leached Heavy Metals from Coal Ash Generated at a Malaysian Power Plant," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-14, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rolando Esteban Liranzo-Gómez & Antonio Torres-Valle & Ulises Javier Jauregui-Haza, 2024. "Risk Perception Assessment of Sargassum Blooms in Dominican Republic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-17, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:8:p:3270-:d:346943. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.