Thailand’s national parks ban the use of sunscreen

[Thaiger]

Fair-skinned travellers beware – visiting Thailand’s beautiful natural parks just got a bit harder and may leave you literally seeing red. Get ready for sunburn, as a new law announced last night in the Royal Gazette has banned the use of sunscreen within the grounds of Thailand’s national parks. No, this isn’t another “2-price Thailand” style bias against pasty foreigner tourists. The rule was enacted in a bid to protect the beautiful coral reefs that Thailand’s marine tourism is famous for. Studies have shown that the chemicals used in sunscreen have been linked to damage to coral. The rule was […]

The post Thailand’s national parks ban the use of sunscreen appeared first on Thaiger News.

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[BookShe]

It's a great opportunity for those unemployed soi dogs to sniff out those dirty farangs who use suncream. I mean I agree to stop polluting the oceans, but how is it going to be enforced? When are they going to regulate commercial fishing?

(a forum member nemed "soidog" gotta love this article)

Edited August 4, 2021 by BookShe

[billywillyjones]

concentrate on cleaning up the garbage first and all Chinese swimming around the coral on private boats first I would suggest

[Dedinbed]

The lobster look has returned then if you can make it back into Thailand .. great stuff .. they should double tap this and offer melanoma treatment packages now .. 

[Guest]

Studies link please.

This sounds retarded as it's tiny amounts of chemicals diluted in wast amount of salt water. What about diesel engines and all that lol. 

[billywillyjones]

13 minutes ago, Xaos said:

Studies link please.

This sounds retarded as it's tiny amounts of chemicals diluted in wast amount of salt water. What about diesel engines and all that lol. 

farang wear sunscreen not thai case closed:)

[HolyCowCm]

How are they going to enforce this? This is not new knowing sunblock is destructive, so it is a good idea for the amount of tourists they pack pin good no covid years swarm all over these areas. Normal beaches will have no ban.

[sputnik]

maybe prohibit Thai fisherboats to do their motorwash / oilchange in the ocean would be a start...

or prohibiting thai factory's to dumb their chemical waste right into the rivers..unfiltered and pure as it comes ( thai style )

have a few tones industrial chemical radioactive waste..???.welcome to thailands oceans....

i think chinese ( friendship nation ) commercial boats dump their shit regularly and on industrial scale into thai waters....

in los there are not many that worry about environment....its historical...in the 1920 s they start to cut off all their natural prestine rainforest...and now the stomp down   thousands of rais ricefields for credit payed housing...every day...

the burning of woods in the north every year creates an air where no human or animal can exist...

i once swam opposite   kho chang ( mainland )  in a see full of plastic bags....the locals dump their trash right out to the beach area....

ma ben rai...sabai sabai...

 

 

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

1 hour ago, Thaiger said:

Fair-skinned travellers beware – visiting Thailand’s beautiful natural parks just got a bit harder and may leave you literally seeing red.

Oh so those Asian woman that hide from the sun and use all those creams with whiteness added may now find it difficult to become white. 

https://thediplomat.com/2019/12/where-does-the-asian-obsession-with-white-skin-come-from/

Let’s see the politicians wives have a word in their ear when they can’t use the SPF50 with whiteness added.

[OneAngryJew]

1 hour ago, Thaiger said:

Fair-skinned travellers beware – visiting Thailand’s beautiful natural parks just got a bit harder and may leave you literally seeing red. Get ready for sunburn, as a new law announced last night in the Royal Gazette has banned the use of sunscreen within the grounds of Thailand’s national parks. No, this isn’t another “2-price Thailand” style bias against pasty foreigner tourists. The rule was enacted in a bid to protect the beautiful coral reefs that Thailand’s marine tourism is famous for. Studies have shown that the chemicals used in sunscreen have been linked to damage to coral. The rule was […]

The post Thailand’s national parks ban the use of sunscreen appeared first on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

If it is to protect reefs, why is it banned in ALL parks?

[MikeW]

What does coral have to do with a national park in the mountains 

[BookShe]

8 minutes ago, MikeW said:

What does coral have to do with a national park in the mountains 

Nothing at the moment, but when Greenland melts the corals have to move higher up.

[MattBurgess]

This is pretty garbage reporting. 

"Scientists estimate that fully half the coral in the world has been killed in the last 30 years and, without action, 90% will be gone within the next century."

Well yeah. It's been killed by rising temperatures and increases of acidification caused by dissolved CO₂ in the water. It's been killed by dynamiting to extract fish, or by dragging chains or anchors. It's been killed by overfishing, by sedimentation from onshore development and agriculture. It's been killed by pathogens introduced by poorly treated sewage, stormwater, or agricultural runoff. It's been killed by discarded netting and other fishing gear. It's been killed by harvesting for aquarium trades.

I've done some checking and it turns out sunscreens really DO affect corals, and quite a lot: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2291012/

However, it's a fraction of the impact of these other things. Also, are they banning the use? Or are they doing the reasonable and vastly more effective solution of banning the sale of these sunscreens?

[MattBurgess]

1 hour ago, Xaos said:

Studies link please.

This sounds retarded as it's tiny amounts of chemicals diluted in wast amount of salt water. What about diesel engines and all that lol. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2291012/

[BookShe]

24 minutes ago, sputnik said:

maybe prohibit Thai fisherboats to do their motorwash / oilchange in the ocean would be a start...

or prohibiting thai factory's to dumb their chemical waste right into the rivers..unfiltered and pure as it comes ( thai style )

have a few tones industrial chemical radioactive waste..???.welcome to thailands oceans....

i think chinese ( friendship nation ) commercial boats dump their shit regularly and on industrial scale into thai waters....

in los there are not many that worry about environment....its historical...in the 1920 s they start to cut off all their natural prestine rainforest...and now the stomp down   thousands of rais ricefields for credit payed housing...every day...

the burning of woods in the north every year creates an air where no human or animal can exist...

i once swam opposite   kho chang ( mainland )  in a see full of plastic bags....the locals dump their trash right out to the beach area....

ma ben rai...sabai sabai...

In case you wonder.... This is a private land supposed to be a water park in Samui. Now half the island is dumping their garbage here illegally. (sun cream too) The best part is when these idiots decide to set it on fire. I just love their vigilance to pinpoint the real problems.

[Noel]

Its the numbers of Chinese tourists and diesel in the water full stop causing this problem and massive global warming of the seas. Banning sunscreen is like shooting a tank with a pea shooter it has literally no effect on coral, I guarantee the parts per million in the water compared to diesel and petrol is tiny. But banning the way to many Chinese tourist is not an option for the Thais money first tourism till everything is dead. Regulation would be a start and limited the numbers.

If they dont know way the coral is dieing try googling Australian coral reef

[Stonker]

Great - so now tourists are made welcome to catch skin cancer on the beach as well as Covid in the bar!

 

Reportedly, though, this only applies to sunscreens containing "Oxybenzone, Octinoxate, 4-Methylbenzyl and Butylparaben".  I just checked my Watson's Aloe 50+ and Boots Kids Soltan 50+ and neither do.

 

Why it would be a problem in all national parks rather than just marine parks when we're several hundred kilometres from the sea, I can't imagine .....

[BookShe]

3 minutes ago, Stonker said:

Why it would be a problem in all national parks rather than just marine parks when we're several hundred kilometres from the sea, I can't imagine .....

I posted earlier in case you missed it :)

MikeW asked: What does coral have to do with a national park in the mountains?

Nothing at the moment, but when Greenland melts the corals have to move higher up.

 

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

Violators of this new rule can be penalised with fines of up to 100,000 baht, around US $3000, a harsh punishment imposed to dissuade travellers and tourists from disregarding the seemingly innocuous rule.
 

Is this a law? Has it been published in the Royal Gazette? Legal or No? Is it another one of the let’s release our thoughts to the press and see what the public thinks about it?

[BookShe]

1 hour ago, MattBurgess said:

This is pretty garbage reporting. 

"Scientists estimate that fully half the coral in the world has been killed in the last 30 years and, without action, 90% will be gone within the next century."

Well yeah. It's been killed by rising temperatures and increases of acidification caused by dissolved CO₂ in the water. It's been killed by dynamiting to extract fish, or by dragging chains or anchors. It's been killed by overfishing, by sedimentation from onshore development and agriculture. It's been killed by pathogens introduced by poorly treated sewage, stormwater, or agricultural runoff. It's been killed by discarded netting and other fishing gear. It's been killed by harvesting for aquarium trades.

I've done some checking and it turns out sunscreens really DO affect corals, and quite a lot: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2291012/

However, it's a fraction of the impact of these other things. Also, are they banning the use? Or are they doing the reasonable and vastly more effective solution of banning the sale of these sunscreens?

Who needs these corals anyway? We can't eat them or funk them so they are pretty useless to humans. They should stop complaining. If they don't like our sun cream they can just leave.

Edited August 4, 2021 by BookShe

[JonBravo]

This is fake news. It's not the diesel boats and the gasoline and diesel exhaust into the water???? Trash and plastic going into the water??? It's the very few ppl that use sunscreen? Another Thailand lie to pass the blame to foreign visitors and not the Thai tour operators.  Complete lie and completely predictable in such a horribly managed country. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by JonBravo

[Stonker]

19 minutes ago, AdvocatusDiaboli said:

Violators of this new rule can be penalised with fines of up to 100,000 baht, around US $3000, a harsh punishment imposed to dissuade travellers and tourists from disregarding the seemingly innocuous rule.
 

Is this a law? Has it been published in the Royal Gazette? Legal or No? Is it another one of the let’s release our thoughts to the press and see what the public thinks about it?

Yes. Yes. Yes. No.

[KWOG]

I have seen this elsewhere and it was only a few brands/formulations of sunscreen that were being banned. Like, the stupid expensive spray on sh8t that no one with any sense would buy anyway. 

  

[Bangkok_Gary]

To all those people dumping on Thailand, Hawaii also banned such sunscreens.

[KWOG]

1 minute ago, Bangkok_Gary said:

To all those people dumping on Thailand, Hawaii also banned such sunscreens.

I think that's the report I read, maybe last week.  Much ado about nothing. The ones they banned probably make up 1 percent of the market, which is fortunate since I doubt they're going to set up roadblocks and  train sniffer dogs for it.