Hawaii to ban reef killing sunscreen -

[jem]

so is it global warming... ocean acidification or something else.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/h...killing-sunscreens/ar-AAwDMip?ocid=spartanntp


more at link..

Hawaii may soon be the first state in the U.S. to ban sunscreens with chemicals that harm nature.

State lawmakers on Tuesday passed a bill that bans the sale of sunscreens that have chemicals believed to damage coral reefs. The ban is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2021, once it is signed by Gov. David Ige (D).

The bill specifically prohibits the sale and distribution of any sunscreens that contain oxybenzone and octinoxate. Prescription sunscreens with those chemicals are not affected by the ban.
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by the way... although the article sounds a public health alarm about the need for sun screen, sun screens may actually be contributing to the increase in skin cancers.

a. sunscreens may allow people to be out in the sun longer they they should and perhaps they are not blocking all the harmful rays.

b. some studies have found the chemicals in sun screens may be causing skin cancers

 

[jem]

maybe in part responsible for the bleeching..
bleeching has been very sad.

http://time.com/4080985/sunscreen-coral-reefs

A chemical in sunscreen may be contributing to the destruction of the coral reefs as swimmers trying to protect their skin venture near reefs, according to new research.

Researchers behind the study, published in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, found that the chemical oxybenzone has toxic effects on young coral that causes endocrine disruption, DNA damage and death of coral, among other the problems. Oxybenzone also exacerbates coral bleaching, a process by which coral reject symbiotic organisms and lose their color. Bleaching has been particularly prevalent in recent years due to rising sea temperatures.

Currently, somewhere between 4,000 and 6,000 tons of sunscreen enters coral reef areas around the world each year, according to the U.S. National Park Service. That’s a lot of sunscreen considering how little it takes to cause toxic effects. According to the new research, toxicity occurs at a concentration of 62 parts per trillion. That’s the equivalent of a drop of water in an Olympic swimming pool, according to study author Omri Bronstein, a researcher at Tel Aviv University.

more at link

 

[jem]

this is why fake "agw science" is destructive.... and immoral.

it has people wasting time and billions when we could being doing a lot less of that and a lot more useful research.



https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/28/sunscreen-damage-coral-research-oxybenzone

In the Caribbean, Downs said, the researchers noticed that bays popular with sunscreen-slathered tourists had dead and sterile coral, while those with little traffic were healthy. “In one there’s just nothing there, it’s a desolate wasteland,” he said. “Two bays over, at a $1,000-a-night resort, where very few people go, there’s lots of coral recruitment, lots of spiny sea urchins.”

The scientists argue that this difference shows that climate change alone is not responsible for coral die-offs, and that such cases add to evidence that pollutants created sterile, “zombie” reefs. Downs’ team has also found that oxybenzone has toxic effects on fish larvae and embryos.