Tried Organic Sun Screen ?

[Colorado Dreamer]

I just stumbled upon this article in National Geographic. I know it is about a year old, but I thought I would share in case you missed it.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n.../82923650.html

I would be curious to know if anyone has tried the "organic" sunscreen that is for sale, and if so, how does it compare to the toxic stuff we smear on every day?

[sailorgal]

Don't know about the organic sunscreen, but I do know that multiple factors affect coral reef bleaching. Some of those are high water temperatures, pathogens, high light intensities and UV radiation, herbicides, and increasing acidification of the oceans.

I'm doing a study right now to see what kind of gene expression changes occur in coral due to differing UV radiation levels.

[sck5]

I went sailing last month in Belize and my sister in law (100% irish redhead) used the organic stuff with lots of little reflective flecks in it sort of like mica. She didnt burn (though she doesnt sunbathe we did spend a week on a boat cruising the offshore cays and reefs) but she did get some color in her face. We thought of her as our guinea pig for the stuff since if anyone would burn she would be the one. We decided that it worked pretty well - The only drawback being that it isnt at all waterproof and you have to reapply it every time you sweat it off or go for a swim

[bstreep]

The "sunscreen is killing reefs" myths have been debunked. All of this hype was based on a single really lousy piece of "scientific" research. The "scientist" used mega doses of sunblock. Really, a tragic piece of "science". But it's been repeated so often that it's now "fact".

As a molecular biologist by education, and a life-long reef keeper, this is one of those things myths that really, really can do more harm (sunburn/cancer for all of those tourists) than they eventually help.

[bstreep]

To give you an example, corals were test at rates up to 100 microliters of sunscreen per liter. That's like putting a GALLON of sunscreen into an area of seawater of 10'x10'x10'. Or, like dumping 66 GALLONS of sunscreen into a typical sized olympic pool.

Seriously, think what would actually survive in a mess like that. FISH wouldn't even survive, much less stony corals!

[dirtydon]

go to the scuba sites ,they have posts on this subject.also brands that are reef safe.there are a couple of cemicals that are bad for the coral,but like some of the post here say in very large doses.any little bit helps.dirtydon(diver)

[bstreep]

This is like the ozone hole scare...

[DeepFrz]

I'm just amazed at the "junk science" that gets spread around these days.

[Morgan Paul]

Sunscreen is killing the reefs.

This has to be a joke.

[pete33458]

As a scientist myself, I'm CONSTANTLY appalled at the things that make it into the public domain. I guess if you get an expert to say it, somebody will believe it, but even a small amount of sense (note omission of the word "common") will tell you that it's impossible for sunscreen to be a major cause of coral reef degeneration (which is a very real problem). The dilution factor is just too enormous, even at jam-packed beaches (most of which do not support coral growth anyway...). In addition to the dilution factor, there are factors like tides, currents, and the half-life of UV-absorbing substances.

I just don't know sometimes. If people just ignored all the sensational reporting, maybe it would go away...

Maybe I'm just a little disgusted with humanity at the moment, given the treachery of the US equity and banking systems, and the fact that my tax dollars are now going to be used to bail the scammers out. I probably need to get out on the boat for a few days, perhaps sunblock destroying coral reefs would make more sense after that...

[David M]

Activism and science should be kept separate. When activists start doing "science" the results will always be predictable. Unfortunately the media generally does not know how to discern the difference between science done by professional scientists using the scientific method and "science" conducted by activist organizations done outside of the scientific method.

[DeepFrz]

You can't just blame activists. Ever heard of "The Friends of Science"? Started by a retired University Prof. and his "Scientific" viewpoints are for sale to the highest bidder. The press gets sucked in and tries to present an unbiased view and voila...junk science is propagated amongst the masses. The Friends of Science is just one of the PR groups doing it around the world. Might even be one of the groups promoting "Green" sunscreen by putting out junk science about sunscreen killing the reefs. Ya think?

[Bash]

...forget the activists (who probably have a fairly good understanding of the scientific causes of coral bleaching), and begin by ragging on the low level of scientific literacy within the general public. Within this very thread, for example, evidence can be found of someone who apparently has difficulty discriminating between such fundamentally sound science as the depletion of the ozone layer and a piece of "research" that should never have made it to publication.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by bstreep

This is like the ozone hole scare...

While I tend to believe that a man made hole in the atmosphere is a really bad thing to have, I agree with you that this is probably poor scientific research. To believe that a few onces of sunscreen is doing all this damage is ludicrous. It's funny...if some bum off the street told you this while begging on the street we would dismiss it as crazy but if the same person put it in print in the media...it becomes gospel.
I remember a bumper sticker in the 60's which stated "Question Authority". I think we need one now which says...
"Question Stupidity".

[senormechanico]

Everyone's quality of life would be much higher if stupidity was PAINFUL !!!