Significant research needs for defensible hazard assessment of UV filters in aquatic ecosystems part 1: effects data

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In their 2022 report “Review of Fate, Exposure, and Effects of Sunscreens in Aquatic Environments and Implications for Sunscreen Usage and Human Health”, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) recommended that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) conduct an ecological risk assessment (ERA) of ultraviolet filters (UVFs) used in sunscreens marketed in the United States (NASEM, 2022). Uncertainties in organic UVF exposure and effects data were described by Raimondo (2024), who concluded that an ERA conducted at this time would lack defensibility because much of the limited available data would not meet USEPA’s requirements for reliability and relevance (USEPA, 2016) and recommended the research community work together to improve data available to inform hazard (i.e., effects) assessments for these compounds. Raimondo (2024) recommended research focus on data requirements that could be used to develop aquatic life benchmarks consistent with the Clean Water Act for the protection of aquatic life from toxic chemicals (Stephan et al., 1985). We provide additional clarity on how the research community can help advance the state of the science towards a defensible hazard assessment of UVFs with a focus on increasing taxonomic diversity of test species from relevant and reliable studies and reducing uncertainties in coral toxicity data. In Henderson et al. (2025), this is expanded to address deficiencies in analytical methods for dose verification of toxicity test concentrations.

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