Key West Moves To Ban Sunscreens That Could Damage Reefs (miamiherald.com) 90
Yesterday, the Key West City Commission unanimously voted to ban the sale of sunscreens that contain two ingredients -- oxybenzone and octinoxate -- that a growing body of scientific evidence says harm coral reefs. The measure must now be reviewed again by the commission before it becomes law. The second vote is scheduled for February 5th. Miami Herald reports: Environmental researchers have published studies showing how these two ingredients, which accumulate in the water from bathers or from wastewater discharges, can damage coral reefs through bleaching and harming the corals' DNA. In some instances, the corals can die. A Feburary 2016 study in the Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology examining the impact of oxybenzone in corals in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands concluded that the sunscreen ingredient "poses a hazard to coral reef conservation and threatens the resiliency of coral reefs to climate change.''
Last year, Hawaii banned the sale or distribution of any sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate, a measure that will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021. It was the first state in the nation to implement such a ban. In Florida, the website for the South Florida Reef Ambassador Initiative, which falls under the state's Department of Environmental Protection, tells divers to "Avoid sunscreens with Oxybenzone and Avobenzone. The benzones are compounds that are lethal to coral reproduction in very small amounts." Experts who have studied the issue say sunscreens with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, which are minerals, also block ultraviolet rays. They create a barrier on the skin that deflect the sun's rays .
Last year, Hawaii banned the sale or distribution of any sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate, a measure that will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021. It was the first state in the nation to implement such a ban. In Florida, the website for the South Florida Reef Ambassador Initiative, which falls under the state's Department of Environmental Protection, tells divers to "Avoid sunscreens with Oxybenzone and Avobenzone. The benzones are compounds that are lethal to coral reproduction in very small amounts." Experts who have studied the issue say sunscreens with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, which are minerals, also block ultraviolet rays. They create a barrier on the skin that deflect the sun's rays .
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Well they already took muh dishwashing detergent. That phosphate-free shit doesn't get dishes anywhere near clean.
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Except for it's still a detergent. Just like using a handwashing dish soap, it doesn't necessarily have Phosphates but the surfactants get dishes clean and even clothes if sufficiently concentrated. These chemicals that Key West wants to ban are in almost every variety of "PABA-free" sunscreen. Might as well go back to PABA that provided superior sun protection at lower SPF numbers. (No need for SPF 30, 40, 50... PABA was adeqate at SPF 8 and the maximum necessary was SPF 15.)
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Switch to the little pod style dishwashing detergents. I've found that in a modern dishwasher with a rinse aid dispenser that they do a great job cleaning dishes. The pods get the right combination of detergents and surfactants without too much total detergent. Supposedly the idea is that dishwashers work based on chemistry, not hydrology.
The only thing to maybe worry about is that I had an appliance repair guy tell me that since the removal of phosphates, they've been using extremely fine mineral abrasi
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Great news. There are a lot fo quality mineral-based sunscreens that don't kill coral.
Hawaii did it first. These sunscreens were banned there last year.
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Great news. There are a lot fo quality mineral-based sunscreens that don't kill coral.
Hawaii did it first. These sunscreens were banned there last year.
I was just there. They banned the listed chemicals, but there were sunscreens for sale everywhere that had essentially the same chemicals with slight modifications. Banana Boat in particular did this, and even had the gall to put "Reef Safe!" stickers on everything.
Bottom line: if it isn't mineral-based, its bad, mmkay?
How do you enforce? (Score:3)
It would be way too labor intensive to check every person's luggage to see if they had a sunscreen with a banned ingredient. You would need a DEA sized workforce. "War on Sunscreen" just doesnt have the ring to it that "War on Drugs" has.
The ban is more of a suggestion.
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You enforce it by randomised checking of the shops selling sunscreen in Key West and fining the living fuck out of any breaking the law.
That someone can buy sunscreen in Australia, carry it through nine countries and use it in Key West (as I will tomorrow) doesn't break the law or stop it being effective in reducing harm to the coral.
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But think of the potential for civil assets forfeiture.
Do they look like zinc oxide, or wear them to wor? (Score:2)
I know zinc oxide is a good sunscreen, but you can't really wear that all the time if you're fair-skinned or have risk factors for skin cancer. Are there good ones, that protect from the cancer-causing wavelengths, affordably? Do they look like zinc oxide sunscreen aka clown make-up? I'm not really familiar with this topic. I suppose maybe Florida fashions could adapt and it could be considered normal to sit in a business meeting painted like Bozo the Clown.
I rarely use sunscreen, so this doesn't affect me
Good idea (Score:2)
While you are at it, why not also look into not selling sunscreen that is questionable for humans too...
However I fear it may have little effect, since a lot of people bring their own sunscreen from elsewhere. But you may as well try.
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I don't think anyone WANTS to be part of damaging something beautiful.
As soon as the government shut down, people drove into Joshua Tree National Park and started cutting down Joshua trees. People would pulverize coral with sledgehammers and then dissolve it in acid if it weren't so inaccessible. A certain portion of humanity is simply shit.
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As soon as the government shut down, people drove into Joshua Tree National Park and started cutting down Joshua trees.
When I read that sentence I thought it was sarcasm. I assumed it was some variation on "if murder wasn't illegal everyone would go out murdering tomorrow".
Sadly, it appears you are right. A certain proportion of humanity is simply shit.
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I don't think anyone WANTS to be part of damaging something beautiful.
As soon as the government shut down, people drove into Joshua Tree National Park and started cutting down Joshua trees. People would pulverize coral with sledgehammers and then dissolve it in acid if it weren't so inaccessible. A certain portion of humanity is simply shit.
Before coral was protected, people would collect and cut it up to make things like coffee tables.
Re:Good idea (Score:4, Interesting)
Consumer Reports 2018, top 5 sunscreens:
(A) La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Sunscreen Milk.
(B) Coppertone Sport SPF 50 Lotion Sunscreen.
(C) Aveeno Protect + Hydrate Lotion SPF 30.
(D) Banana Boat SunComfort Clear UltraMist Spray SPF 50+ Sunscreen.
(E) Coppertone Kids Sunscreen Stick SPF 55.
The offending ingredients named in the summary are Oxybenzone and Octinoxate
(A) contains Oxybenzone 3.86%
(B) neither listed
(C) contains Oxybenzone 5%
(D) contains Oxybenzone 3%
(E) contains Oxybenzone 6%
All of them (including B) listed an active ingredient with a similar sounding name to Octinoxate called Octisalate.
Given that apparently the best sunscreens use this stuff, it would be no surprise that people would just go ahead and ignore the law.
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However I fear it may have little effect, since a lot of people bring their own sunscreen from elsewhere. But you may as well try.
A lot more people than you think manage to forget or simply lose their sunscreen.
Yup, and the stuff also expires and becomes unusable after a while so a very significant number of visitors are likely to buy their sunscreen locally.
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The TSA only limits liquids that you carry on board. You can put gallons of sunscreen in your checked luggage and they wouldn't care.
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Someone got probed by aliens on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
Spitting into the wind (Score:5, Insightful)
if you look at all chemicals we add to the water which potentially harms coral, fertilizer would seem to be the biggest culprit [phys.org]. And we dump probably a trillion times more fertilizer into the oceans (via agricultural runoff) than sunscreen. These sunscreen bans are like making a fuss over a tiny crack in the road, while ignoring the smoking mile-wide crater.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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So if my arm is partially amputated causing massive blood loss and I have an obvious melanoma growing on my other arm I should make sure to stop and clean and dress a small scratch on my leg first? Then I can worry about the massive trauma on one limb and deadly cancer on another? Because "Tackle the small problem first."
That's what you are saying. We should temporarily ignore the thing that is killing coral and creating dead zones larger than entire states in the gulf of Mexico and other river outlets into
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More fertilizer runs off from lawns than farms. Farmers are businessmen. They dont want to waste money by adding more than needed whereas homeowners are amateurs. Ban fertilizer at Home Depot et al and you fix the runoff issue.
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Just because something has a small effect doesn't mean it should not be treated. If we tackle all the small components it will eventually add up.
If you waste your time on insignificant trivialities while ignoring the giant elephant in the room, you're just doing that: wasting your time.
i.e. Tackle the small problems first
That's the wrong way to go about. If you cannot tackle the big problems that are so much worse they're not even on the same scale than what you're doing, you've failed before even starting.
Then you can tackle the big problems down the road when you can
No you can't, because you're too busy wasting your time on nonsense. You could do countless of these small projects and still not make a difference. Time is finite.
But you don't just stare at the huge problem and say "Too big.. Me go home now"...
But that's exactl
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Just because something has a small effect doesn't mean it should not be treated.
That depends on if that something has a benefit. The GP's crack in the road doesn't have a benefit. The mixture of chemicals in sunscreen however dramatically help reduce skin cancer rates.
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No. I'm saying these two are by far the most effective. The alternatives are not as good at protecting against UVB and don't last as long.
Your argument also makes no sense. Humans in general don't focus on collective good of their medical fitness alone, and decisions are imperfect targeting a specific and often changing purpose. Key West's decision had nothing to do with cancer, much less causing people to get it (that is also a really dumb stretch of logic since the type of sunscreen used doesn't "cause" a
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Translation: ban all the other (potentially) harmful things before you ban my $favorite_sunscreen.
Go put on a hat.
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You're right, but there are different degrees of harm.
The problem with these sunscreens specifically is that first and foremost, we don't need these types of sunscreen. Honestly, you don't need sunscreen at all if you're sensible, my experience of diving is that many divers just don't use it despite being out on boats or in the sea, sometimes with long surface swims with the sun glaring down in some of the hottest parts of the world. Just wear something like a rash guard and a hat, or keep yourself in the s
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Good point. When my car started leaking brake fluid I just ignored it. It wasn't worth fixing, there was petrol leaking out of the tank anyway. I knew it was probably going to crash and catch fire and burn to the ground soon no matter what I did.
Time to Sleep (Score:1)
I read this as "Kanye West" and was blown away by his sudden charitable foresight, yet highly confused.
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Reddit thought the same: https://www.reddit.com/r/Uplif... [reddit.com]
Titanium dioxide, really? (Score:2)
Lets slather ourselves with non biodegradable nanoparticles which are known photo-catalysts, can penetrate cells and go sit in UV light ... what could possibly go wrong?
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You're a moron.
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When I was growing up in California (early Sixties) TiO2 was why all the surfers had white noses.
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Was probably zinc oxide, but even if it wasn't it was made from big particles. They can make it transparent now by using nanoparticles, nice sharp rod shaped nanoparticles.
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Zinc oxide was used also, yes, and it looked the same.
Safer for clothing too (Score:2)
I switched to the vanishing zinc oxide sunscreen because the Oxybenzone stuff creates terrible stains on my clothing due to the iron in my water (which runs through a cast iron pipe from the water company). I haven't noticed any decrease in sunscreen effectiveness, but there is certainly a significant increase in price for the zinc oxide stuff. Since I live 3000 miles from Key West I guess I'm doing my part for the coral reefs too.
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At least it's Key West (Score:1)
..and not Kanye
More Cancer is irrelevant (Score:2)
:)
Sunscreen thoughts (Score:2)
Current sunscreen products wash off fairly quickly, thus the admonition to re-apply regularly.
There are some dyes that are fairly indelible on skin, inks and such. The upper layer of the skin is permanently stained, and the stain doesn't go away until the stained layers wear away.
Is there (or could it be synthesized) such a dye that is opaque in UV but otherwise colorless? Apply once, good for a couple of days? (Actually, even if it did have some garish color in visible light, it might become a fashion