Kessil

Palau is first country to ban sunscreen to protect coral

As long as they sell sunscreen in the country that is coral safe I'm ok with it, if they do a total sunscreen ban... then cross Palau off the list of places to ever visit. Although if it's just sunscreen products with the particular chemicals in it but others are ok I have to wonder how effective this ban is, will there be sunscreen police on the beaches checking everyone's sunscreen? I mean sure you could do a ban of sales of it everywhere in the country, but people are going to bring it with them on luggage, are they going to go through luggage to check?
 
Thanks for posting the article.

We've always worn rash guards when snorkeling any ways. If they are serious out the ban, it would be announced on the flight going there and signs posted at the airport like chewing gum in Singapore.
 
I thought the idea that sunscreen was causing coral deaths was debunked. That Netflix coral documentary (it was posted on here a while ago but I forgot what it’s name is) blamed the increase in water temperature for mass coral death.
 
Possibly, the article seems to think that the oxy(whatever) combining with the corals doesn't allow them to adjust to temperatures as much, and as a result the temperature yes does kill them. But not sure if that's a proven fact, or if it's just chasing the tail of what is shown to be the problem then blaming something else as a reason for why they can't adjust.

That said, I'm white AF, so I'm going to put sunscreen on at every beach I go to :D
 
Possibly, the article seems to think that the oxy(whatever) combining with the corals doesn't allow them to adjust to temperatures as much, and as a result the temperature yes does kill them. But not sure if that's a proven fact, or if it's just chasing the tail of what is shown to be the problem then blaming something else as a reason for why they can't adjust.

That said, I'm white AF, so I'm going to put sunscreen on at every beach I go to :D
We tried all the natural sunscreens and even when we applied them every 1/2 hour they still didn’t work. When we went to Hawaii we broke down and got the full on chemical ones and no one got burned.
 
We tried all the natural sunscreens and even when we applied them every 1/2 hour they still didn’t work. When we went to Hawaii we broke down and got the full on chemical ones and no one got burned.

You weren't wearing the correct clothing with the natural sunscreen.

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We tried all the natural sunscreens and even when we applied them every 1/2 hour they still didn’t work. When we went to Hawaii we broke down and got the full on chemical ones and no one got burned.
Hawaii passed a similar law banning the worst of the same sunscreens (oxybenzone and octinoxate) starting in 2021.

It has been shown clearly in a small number of scientific studies that these sunscreen chemicals are deadly to coral larva, at the doses found on tourist reefs.

I agree that the "natural" zinc oxide sunscreens aren’t as effective, or at least are harder to keep up with.

I’m hopeful that these laws will prompt more research into safe and effective alternatives, since now there is money to be made.
 
I thought the idea that sunscreen was causing coral deaths was debunked. That Netflix coral documentary (it was posted on here a while ago but I forgot what it’s name is) blamed the increase in water temperature for mass coral death.

Chasing Coral?
 
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