Reef Protection turned into pointless bill

[Eric1600]

This is mostly for those who dive or fish around puna.

The bill SB1150 regarding Oxybenzone, a substance in sunscreens that has been shown in several other studies to block sunlight from reaching reefs has taken a pointless turn in both the House and Senate. House draft HD3 of SB1150 was rewritten to make it fund another study of Oxybenzone rather than ban the sale and use of this chemical.

http://capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=1150&year=2017

These studies have already been done.

quote:

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A 2015 study analyzing six coastal sites in South Carolina detected oxybenzone in all sites and in 90 percent of samples. The average concentration of oxybenzone found was more than four times the concentration that damaged coral in research studies.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26541983

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and

quote:

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Another study found the amount of oxybenzone in the Virgin Islands coral reefs to be more than 4,000 times the concentration that damaged coral in other studies.
http://http//www.haereticus-lab.org/story_content/ecotox-sunscreen-lotion.pdf

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Even the senate draft SD2 of the bill points this out that UH has already studied it.

quote:

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The World Conservation Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature met in September 2016 in Honolulu. The Congress disclosed that 2015 research led by a University of Hawai‘i professor implicated oxybenzone in coral larvae deformity, bleaching, and DNA damage that weakens coral systems' adaptability to climate change. The threat is particularly acute in Hawaiian ocean waters where coral bleaching is occurring at a historic rate never previously recorded.

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It's pretty easy to find similarly priced sunscreens that don't contain oxybenzone (the worst of the bunch), octocrylene, 4MBC, butylparaben and octinoxate.

Both the house and Senate versions of this bill suck. The senate wants to "ban use" which means we would also need sunscreen police or basically nothing happens. The house version is to just study it.
Both drafts are somewhat pointless and should really be a ban on sales of sunscreens with oxybenzone.

I've been contacting them to try and get them to do something realistic because I've seen degradation in reefs around Puna and especially Oahu. If you're interested you can write to them directly about SB1150 and get them to just ban the sale of sunscreen products with oxybenzone.

senrhoads@capitol.hawaii.gov
karl@karlrhoads.org
senkeithagaran@capitol.hawaii.gov
reping@Capitol.hawaii.gov
replee@Capitol.hawaii.gov
reptakumi@Capitol.hawaii.gov

You can also submit direct testimony here http://capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=1150&year=2017

Note: As of 4/7 the senate and house are still disputing the bill but neither version is helpful. Just for fun here's the action item from the senate version:

quote:

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No person shall use or apply sunscreen, sunblock, or cosmetic containing any oxybenzone while on a beach in Hawaii or in the ocean, unless the sunscreen, sunblock, or cosmetic is a prescription drug as defined in section 328-112.

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[kalakoa]

rewritten to make it fund another study

That's not "pointless" to the people who do the studies, only to people who care about the environment.

get them to just ban the sale of sunscreen products with oxybenzone

The resulting lawsuits from manufacturers will be far more expensive than the "studies".

Because the product is approved by Federal agencies, it's magically OK to sell, interstate commerce, etc.

State is merely trying to kick the can down the road until the Feds address the issue.

It's how things are done here.

[Kapoho Joe]

I applaud your efforts, but attempting sane discourse with our elected reps is like pissing into the wind - The job doesn't get done properly and you end up filthy.

[leilanidude]

Why not skip the worthless legislators and go direct to the manufacturers. Advise them that producing a "reef safe" sunscreen is better marketing in addition to being better for the reef.

[kalakoa]

Why not skip the worthless legislators and go direct to the manufacturers.

Interesting idea. Perhaps we should study it further.

[TomK]

Not wishing to take this completely off-topic, but I suspect we can look forward to the mother of all studies:

http://khon2.com/2017/04/13/seeking-an-u...ter-plans/

"The point is to let people know we are preparing to at least provide some comfort. That we’re making efforts to protect people,” LoPresti said. “When you talk about sizable weapon North Korea might be able to launch, we would be looking at hundreds of thousands of survivors and it’s incumbent on the state, the federal government, and the [counties] to look at providing and equipping shelters with medical sanitary and food kits."

Those who do these studies must be licking their lips.

[Eric1600]

The good news is bill HB600 has been introduced to ban the sale of sunscreen products with oxybenzone:

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=600&year=2017

Let's hope they drop the other bills in favor of HB600.

[kalakoa]

As currently amended, HB600 is still "up for discussion":

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on January 28, 2081.

[Obie]

HB600 is dead because it didn't make the crossover .