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Vacationers who are planning to go to Mexico are advised to check for advisories on their intended destinations. Most tourist areas, particularly marine preservation parks, are now requiring their visitors to use only the biodegradable types of sunscreens. This requirement came as a reaction to the findings of an Italian research group, pertaining to washed-off ingredients of sunscreen lotions coming from the multitudes of beach goers. Their report reveals how sunscreen chemicals have stirred back to life a strain of dormant virus found in corals.
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Researchers are quite concerned that a once dormant virus has sprung back to life, affecting important coral algae called zooxanthellae. Most of the corals found on the ocean’s surface have very high concentrations of compounds that were traced as coming from sunscreens. The algae are important for the reef as they provide food via photosynthesis. Researchers have observed how the zooxanthellae algae are being filled-up with the virus strain, as it replicates inside their systems up to a bursting point. The exploding algae will then spread out the virus in nearby corals, thus, causing damages to more marine life.
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Even cruise ships are imposing the same requirement from their passengers to avoid the recurrence of similar past incidents of mysterious plagues that infected the guests on board. Cruise ships have pool amenities and spas that are quite popular among passengers, where such dormant microorganisms may also exist. Swimming pools and spa facilities have often been traced as sources of disease causing bacteria.
Hence, the need to eliminate the possibility that chemical compounds from conventional sunscreens will likewise stir into activity similar strains of disease causing microbes that may be lurking in their water-bearing facilities.
