If you’re into skincare, you will have heard of squalene (or squalane).
It’s in moisturisers, make-up and cleansers but is also used in vaccines and medicines.
Now, scientists have linked squalene to around 390 species of sharks and rays being threatened with extinction, according to new research.
The authors are calling for better regulation of the industry.
“It’s very easy to forget what’s going on in the deep, and we hear a lot of stuff about mining in the deep ocean, but the reality is the biggest threat is overfishing,” Professor Nick Dulvy told the Vancouver Sun.
Squalene is traditionally collected from the livers of deepwater sharks. The livers help them stay afloat.
More than 200m below the surface, their ecosystems are one of the last refuges from humans, say researchers. But the sharks and rays that live there are being devastated by fishing.
Just under 390 of the nearly 2,800 species of deepwater sharks and rays are now threatened with extinction. They’re more at risk from fishing than other species because they’re very slow to reproduce.
Although many cosmetics companies now use vegan squalene, the shark-based oil is still common around the world.
It hit the headlines in 2020, as it was an ingredient in some COVID-19 vaccines, leading GlaxoSmithKline to say it was researching plant-based alternatives for its vaccines.
“Liver oil is kind of going under the radar,” Prof Dulvy said. “If you ask anybody about it, they’ll never have heard about it, but the reality is we’ve probably all used it or ingested it.”