Sunscreen is essential to protect you this summer, but it could be dangerous for the environment. The National Health Security Agency (Anses) has, in fact, determined that one of the components of sunscreen, octocrylene, is harmful to the environment. “In a draft report on risk management options, ANSES recommends that the Ministry of the Environment initiate a restriction proposal at European level for octocrylene – present in particular in sunscreens – taking into account the risks that it presents for the environment, “explains this institution to TF1 Info. As such, ANSES filed a restriction request with the government on May 26.
Octocrylene is an ultraviolet A and B filter known to be water resistant. It is found in sunscreens therefore, but also in everyday cosmetics such as shampoos, anti-aging creams or even self-tanners.
According to Le Parisien, octorylene would considerably damage the seabed. Being neither biodegradable – that is to say likely to be decomposed by living organisms – nor bioaccumulative – which is likely to accumulate in the food chain -, it has been banned in certain territories, such as islands. British Virgin Islands and the Marshall Islands.
Worse still, the substance could prove to be carcinogenic. In 2021, French and American researchers proved that when the tube was opened, octorylene could transform into a particularly dangerous endocrine disruptor: benzophenone. “When it is on the skin, this substance can induce dermatitis [inflammations of the skin, editor’s note], it is a molecule which affects thyroid functions and which disrupts the development of the reproductive organs”, explained one of the researchers .
