Sunscreen as an Emerging Coastal Contaminant: Sunscreen Usage and Estimation of Discharge in Southwest Florida

The economy of southwest Florida relies heavily on beach-related tourism, which results in increasing input of sunscreen to aquatic ecosystems. This sunscreen input represents an environmental risk because sunscreens are known to negatively impact human health and aquatic ecosystems. Our estimate indicates that the water in Lee County, Florida, will receive at least 38.7 million g per year (106,000 g/day) of chemicals from sunscreens used by tourist beachgoers. We considered direct sunscreen chemical contamination, which occurs from the application of sunscreen and subsequent swimming or water activities, as well as indirect contamination, which occurs when people wash their skin in beach showers whose water then enters the drainage system. The results of this study indicate the potential loading rate of sunscreen chemicals, which is valuable in environmental risk assessments and estimating the near-shore concentrations of sunscreen chemicals in southwest Florida.