Researchers assessed whether octinoxate—a UV filter that washes into freshwater through drains—poses environmental risks in the US. They found a substantial safety margin between realistic environmental exposure levels and the concentration predicted to cause harm, concluding negligible risk to freshwater ecosystems.

The team used a specialized risk assessment framework and a computer model (iSTREEM) to predict how much octinoxate enters US freshwater systems, then compared those predictions against known toxicity thresholds.

Funding not disclosed in abstract