In the summer of 2017 American fertility hit a record low. Oxybenzone is suspected of causing fertility issues be cause of research that suggests oxybenzone cause hormone level changes, which ultimately affects fertility. Scientists started to look towards ingredients in sunscreen because America spends the most sun protection compared to any other country. Oxybenzone is found in 97%of Americans which makes the potentially toxic effect more concerning. Previous studies ex posed rats to oxybenzone, and the estrogenic property destroyed sperm cells and follicles in ovaries, and decreased the organ mass. Another study conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen exposed human sperm to 29 UV-filters that

are approved by America. The results of this study show that 45% of the UV-filters caused calcium ion influxes, which made it so that sperm could not survive in an environment similar to fallopian tubes. Data from these two studies suggest that oxy benzone could be a potential cause to the decreasing fertility rate in America.

In the study I performed, Drosophila melanogaster were exposed to concentrations of oxybenzone found in an aver age adult male, an eight year child, and a two year old child. Drosophila melanogaster are useful organisms for a fertility study because D.melanogaster produce large numbers of offspring, and because the larva can be exposed dermally, and the hatched flies will be exposed orally. The concentrations were determined based on the percent of oxybenzone absorbed into the blood from a one ounce application. Then calculations were done to find out the percent of oxybenzone in the blood com pared to body mass. An adult, eight year old and two year old were chosen to test the risk this chemical has to young children versus adults. To carry out this study, 10 male flies and 10 female flies were exposed to oxybenzone, the offspring produced were transferred to another culture, and the offspring of the transferred flies produced were counted. The final step was to count the offspring and compare it to the average number of offspring not exposed to oxybenzone. I hypothesized that the fer tility rate of D.melanogaster would be affected by the oxybenzone; the highest concentration would have the greatest affect, and the lowest concentration would have the least effect.

The results show that the highest concentration of oxybenzone produced more offspring than the control group. Data from this study shows that my control group from the experimental trial had fewer offspring than the preliminary trial I had done to establish a control group reproductive rate. This result could be caused from the odor that was produced from the cul tures of fruit flies inside the insect incubator. When the eight preliminary cultures were made, they were the only cultures in the incubator, as opposed to the extremely crowded culture that the experimental trial was grown in. Many factors do affect the fertility of the Drosophila melanogaster, but the results from my study suggest that oxybenzone does not greatly impact fertility rate of Drosophila melanogaster.