I-Team

I-Team: What's In The Water?

UM Biologist Seeks To Cure Coral Reefs

Warns Of Dangers Posed By Some Sunscreens

MIAMI (CBS4) ― Dr. Andrew Baker makes the most unusual house calls. He travels hundreds of feet under the sea to check on his ailing patients who happen to be animals in distress. They are corals, the increasingly endangered heart of a global undersea universe that crisscrosses the ocean's depths and caresses the South Florida coastline.

"Coral reefs all around the world are in a lot of trouble," say Dr Baker of the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science Center. At age 37, he is already applauded around the globe as a pioneering physician tending to the world's coral reefs and immersed in trying to solve a murder of sorts - coral death.

"You could liken them to swimming around in a graveyard," said Dr. Baker who cautions "if the coral stays white for more than a few weeks they die."

With his own eyes and camera he has documented "…large death episodes of these corals around the world over the last two decades...a very big one just three years ago right here in Florida."

A coral biologist, Dr. Baker is analyzing every clue of what may contribute to coral death,  including a recent Italian study of the impact of sunscreen on coral reefs of the world.

The Italian scientists found that four chemicals; paraben, cinnamate, benzophenone and a camphor derivative which are all common to many sunscreens can trigger viral infections in corals, infections that can spread to nearby coral colonies.

"They showed that even in fairly low concentrations, this sunscreen can actually contribute to this bleaching response of corals which causes the corals to loose their coloration and turn white" he told CBS4 Chief Investigative Reporter Michele Gillen. "They suggested that this sunscreen actually encouraged an explosion of viruses."

Of course the world's oceans are immense and the sunscreen chemicals are vastly diluted.

"There are alternatives we can use as humans that protect us from the sun, protect us from skin cancers, but that will still be safe for the environment," said facial plastic surgeon Dr. Julio Gallo Medical Director of the Miami Institute for Age Management and Intervention, where he tends to the skin of patients who seek his care from around the world.

Dr. Gallo suggests wearing sunscreens that rely on the use of physical filters. These reflect instead of absorb ultraviolet light, and according to Dr. Gallo, are now greatly improved from a consumer standpoint and contain fewer chemicals.

"Most of the sunscreens that cause a problems are the chemical ones that absorb the damaging UV rays," he said. "There are a lot of products these days that are eco -friendly."

Gallo urges consumers to "take that extra effort to look on the label."

He also advises to pay attention to the SPF level- in many products, the higher the level, the more chemicals. He shares the advice he give patients following a laser treatment on their face when the skin is left vulnerable.

"After a laser I don't let people use anything above an SPF over 30 because I don't want them to use all those chemicals on them."

Dr. Baker sees the corals he so passionately studies and works to protect as a portrait in beauty,

"It's really like an underwater garden that has been manicured and decorated in a way that is bewildering to look at" said Baker, "but those reefs are very rare these days and in fact if you look up the reefs in Florida you are unlikely to see that."

He points out that even if they were spared a chemical impact from sunscreens, they would still be in peril because of global warming and a multitude of attacks from toxins, nutrients and over fishing.

That's why he believes fighting now to help the coral reefs survive is worth it. According to a doctor who is always ready to jump into a wetsuit to go to work "If we do loose them, even if they are not extinct, they will take hundreds of years to recover, we need to start now."

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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