Thailand bans sunscreen in its national parks

[David T Pike]

Do most SE Asians actually need sunscreen having a natural defense for the sun?  I guess they don't want the fair skinned Farangs $$$....

[PremiumLane]

5 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

It’s the chemicals in some sunscreens that damage reefs. There are reef friendly sunscreens available that do not contain those chemicals. 

come on now, you are letting facts and logic get in the way of the emotional knee jerks from most TVF posters ???? 

[keithkarmann]

5 hours ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

They can use sunscreen, just not the ones that contain the specifically-named, banned chemicals. There are other sunscreens that do not contain these chemicals and which are OK to use.

So the police have to take a sample, send it to the lab before they issue a fine.

[JulesMad]

4 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Surely  death by firing squad  also?

Only AFTER you paid the fine...????

[JulesMad]

And how is this enforced again?!? I missed that paragraph....
They cannot even enforce some simple road-rules, so how would they even know which sun cream is good/bad?

[impulse]

6 minutes ago, keithkarmann said:

5 hours ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

They can use sunscreen, just not the ones that contain the specifically-named, banned chemicals. There are other sunscreens that do not contain these chemicals and which are OK to use.

So the police have to take a sample, send it to the lab before they issue a fine.

Or they can certify brands that meet the requirements with a simple sticker on the bottle.  Tourists will have to spend $10 additional to buy their certified, approved sunscreen in Thailand.  

 

Big, fat nuthin' burger...  Aside from a business opportunity for Thai people.

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by impulse

[rayw]

Total stupidity.  Every doctor in the world strongly advises wearing a good high factor sunscreen when sun bathing especially so in tropical areas where the UV radiation is much stronger.  Not wearing sunscreen is by far the biggest cause of skin cancer and that is a hard FACT that we should all be aware of!!!  What are they thinking here, i find this incredibly crass???  Not only that but they simply state national parks, well once again that seems very odd and ill thought out as many such parks are nowhere near the ocean as many have pointed out.  So all in all a pointless, crazy and dangerous prohibition. 

 

Sorry but I cannt agree with this and I am sure very few folk can.  I am keen on conservation and many years ago I was a PADI open water leisure diver and learned all about not touching coral when diving and how to protect the fragile and important corals.  Probably the biggest killer of coral is the huge industrial toxins that get dumped into the oceans from our rivers and other outlets where industiral complexes so often pay little attention to ensuring they do not pollute the enmvironment as their only concern is greedy OTT profits.  A big problem with current deeply flawed uncontrolled Capitalism !!   

 

I must add that I have no selfish hidden agendas here as I personally never sunbathe myself these days and have not done so for over 20 years.  Gettign a sun tan does not interest me one little bit, but that does not mean I think everybody else should follow my example at all as many folk enjoy sunbathing and getting a suntan. Tolerance and a live and let live approach to life is a good general attitude we should all try to adopt in this world and such a pity so many governments do not follow such sound principles whilst concentrating on controlling big greedy corporate Capitalism far more to protect our World and its people. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by rayw
typos etc

[Mickeymaus]

16 minutes ago, rayw said:

Total stupidity.  Every doctor in the world strongly advises wearing a good high factor sunscreen when sun bathing especially so in tropical areas where the UV radiation is much stronger.  Not wearing sunscreen is by far the biggest cause of skin cancer and that is a hard FACT that we should all be aware of!!!  What are they thinking here, i find this incredibly crass???  Not only that but they simply state national parks, well once again that seems very odd and ill thought out as many such parks are nowhere near the ocean as many have pointed out.  So all in all a pointless, crazy and dangerous prohibition. 

 

Sorry but I cannt agree with this and I am sure very few folk can.  I am keen on conservation and many years ago I was a PADI open water leisure diver and learned all about not touching coral when diving and how to protect the fragile and important corals.  Probably the biggest killer of coral is the huge industrial toxins that get dumped into the oceans from our rivers and other outlets where industiral complexes so often pay little attention to ensuring they do not pollute the enmvironment as their only concern is greedy OTT profits.  A big problem with current deeply flawed uncontrolled Capitalism !!   

 

I must add that I have no selfish hidden agendas here as I personally never sunbathe myself these days and have not done so for over 20 years.  Gettign a sun tan does not interest me one little bit, but that does not mean I think everybody else should follow my example at all as many folk enjoy sunbathing and getting a suntan. Tolerance and a live and let live approach to life is a good general attitude we should all try to adopt in this world and such a pity so many governments do not follow such sound principles whilst concentrating on controlling big greedy corporate Capitalism far more to protect our World and its people. 

"Total stupidity.  Every doctor in the world strongly advises wearing a good high factor sunscreen when sun bathing especially so in tropical areas where the UV radiation is much stronger."

 

Perhaps it is a much better idea to avoid sun bathing at all if you really care about your health. Or not? 

[Sig]

6 hours ago, thaitom said:

Showers will be installed at the Entrance of all parks

with drains of untreated shower water leading directly to the sea...

 

[PremiumLane]

35 minutes ago, rayw said:

Total stupidity.  Every doctor in the world strongly advises wearing a good high factor sunscreen when sun bathing especially so in tropical areas where the UV radiation is much stronger.  Not wearing sunscreen is by far the biggest cause of skin cancer and that is a hard FACT that we should all be aware of!!!  What are they thinking here, i find this incredibly crass???  Not only that but they simply state national parks, well once again that seems very odd and ill thought out as many such parks are nowhere near the ocean as many have pointed out.  So all in all a pointless, crazy and dangerous prohibition. 

ehhh sunscreen is not banned, just certain brands with certain chemicals.... it ain't rocket science, mate 

[cncltd1973]

5 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Not even a concern on any level. Why? How long have you lived here? How often have we seen declarations like this? This current administration is infamous for pledges, declarations, proclamations, silly laws, and promises. Few are even remembered, much less followed up upon two weeks later.
 
Feel free to cite some environmental promises that were followed up on, if you can. Otherwise, this is just a pedantic high school level attempt to appear as if they care about the environment, passed by men with a staggering level of incompetence and indifference toward their land, water and the common man. Means less than zero.

 

And what about the rest of the environment? The government should offer incentives, for the farmers to switch crops. This is 2021. Rice and sugar worked in previous centuries. Now, they do not make any sense. Too labor intensive, too much degradation of the land, water, air, and resources. Let's get with the times. Let us move forward. 

 

Then they can move on to tackle the sale of diesel vehicles, and the government's enthusiastic support of such. It is inane in this day and age. Most nations are moving away from diesel for good reasons. When they are not well maintained, they foul the air, with large, nasty particles. And who properly maintains their vehicle here? A while back they had a campaign similar where they had posters with phone numbers that you could call to report vehicles that were polluting. We were driving and we saw this truck that was pumping out huge black clouds of smoke and I copied down their license plate and I dialed the number, and handed my phone to my Thai wife and asked her speak to the department. She asked the person who answered the phone what can they do? He asked my wife why are you calling us and she said, well you have phone numbers posted to report polluting vehicles? The guy said well I don't know who I would report it to, or what they could do about it! She said well that's not really our issue is it? You're supposed to be monitoring polluting vehicles. He said OK, give me the license plate number and I'll see what I can do. My wife said are you going to do anything? He said, I don't know I need to look at the regulations first and see who I'm supposed to report it to, and then maybe somebody will do something.

Lastly they can convert all of the 10 remaining diesel and coal fired power plants. Thailand has already done a very admirable job with renewable power plants. There are over 50 powered by hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass. That is impressive. 
 

I agree, another tourist law that doesn't apply to Thais - like don't feed the fish or handle the wildlife, or be jailed, fined and banished.

 

They are skipping some more important laws, like regulating pesticides. Last I heard, 85% of the vegetables in Bangkok school lunches were tainted with pesticides and the govt's been quiet about it, so it's surely a higher figure now. If they have time to address sunscreen, I would have hoped harmful pesticides would be in the rearview mirror by now.  It's like they scramble to keep up appearances internationally, but when it comes to their own people, being 50 years behind is good enough.

[Orinoco]

1 hour ago, jcmj said:

Hell. I would just set up a stand with tanning lotions that do not have those chemicals at the beach and make a killing. That is whenever it opens again. Although I’m pretty sure they already have that covered by the local people promoting special Thai sunscreens. 

Yes you would do ok with that.

But the Thai's would just fill fake bottles,  with fake lotion and sell it as real sun screen to the tourists.

Fake Thailand. -4.0

 

[curlylekan]

I think the overuse of plastics is something that needs addressing way more than the application if sunscreen

[Mickeymaus]

9 minutes ago, cncltd1973 said:

I agree, another tourist law that doesn't apply to Thais - like don't feed the fish or handle the wildlife, or be jailed, fined and banished.

 

They are skipping some more important laws, like regulating pesticides. Last I heard, 85% of the vegetables in Bangkok school lunches were tainted with pesticides and the govt's been quiet about it, so it's surely a higher figure now. If they have time to address sunscreen, I would have hoped harmful pesticides would be in the rearview mirror by now.  It's like they scramble to keep up appearances internationally, but when it comes to their own people, being 50 years behind is good enough.

This is sadly correct what you write. And in addition to the pesticides some sellers at the market add additional chemicals so that their products (not only vegetables) hold longer. Enjoy your meal... Didn't mention now what they often use to cook it... 

[SW Happy]

6 hours ago, sherwood said:

That's my LoL moment for the day taken care of.

Killing people by Covid is not enough for this mob,  need to add a dose of sun cancer to the melting pot. 

Absolutely unbelievable. It must be Fake news. If they are that concerned about the environment and coral they should start clearing all the filthy plastic and rubbish from the beaches and seas.

Ive spent several years in Thailand and the seas and beaches are disgraceful, I now reside in southern Spain and walk for 1 hour every morning on the beach and have never seen a plastic bottle or any other rubbish/debris.

What A difference.

[Sig]

40 minutes ago, cncltd1973 said:

I agree, another tourist law that doesn't apply to Thais - like don't feed the fish or handle the wildlife, or be jailed, fined and banished.

 

They are skipping some more important laws, like regulating pesticides. Last I heard, 85% of the vegetables in Bangkok school lunches were tainted with pesticides and the govt's been quiet about it, so it's surely a higher figure now. If they have time to address sunscreen, I would have hoped harmful pesticides would be in the rearview mirror by now.  It's like they scramble to keep up appearances internationally, but when it comes to their own people, being 50 years behind is good enough.

You mentioned the prevalence of pesticides. There are also HUGE amounts of chemical fertilizers being applied and often in amounts more than prescribed because there are so many ignorant farmers who think that if they put on more, then the result will be that much better. And that doesn't only apply to Thai farmers by the way, it is a commonly shared stupidity around the world. Oh, and don't forget herbicides too!
Not entirely an ag armchair commentator... used to be in the fertilizer business and also spent some years at the ag uni here in Thailand (Kasetsart University).
If you think it's bad... it's worse than you think. If you have the wherewithal, know your food sources, and wash your fruit and veggies anyway. That won't solve it all, since there are systemic issues, but it'll help.

[AmericanBystander]

https://www.prevention.com/beauty/skin-care/g20258745/best-reef-safe-sunscreens/

[RobU]

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Not even a concern on any level. Why? How long have you lived here? How often have we seen declarations like this? This current administration is infamous for pledges, declarations, proclamations, silly laws, and promises. Few are even remembered, much less followed up upon two weeks later.
 
Feel free to cite some environmental promises that were followed up on, if you can. Otherwise, this is just a pedantic high school level attempt to appear as if they care about the environment, passed by men with a staggering level of incompetence and indifference toward their land, water and the common man. Means less than zero.

 

And what about the rest of the environment? The government should offer incentives, for the farmers to switch crops. This is 2021. Rice and sugar worked in previous centuries. Now, they do not make any sense. Too labor intensive, too much degradation of the land, water, air, and resources. Let's get with the times. Let us move forward. 

 

Then they can move on to tackle the sale of diesel vehicles, and the government's enthusiastic support of such. It is inane in this day and age. Most nations are moving away from diesel for good reasons. When they are not well maintained, they foul the air, with large, nasty particles. And who properly maintains their vehicle here? A while back they had a campaign similar where they had posters with phone numbers that you could call to report vehicles that were polluting. We were driving and we saw this truck that was pumping out huge black clouds of smoke and I copied down their license plate and I dialed the number, and handed my phone to my Thai wife and asked her speak to the department. She asked the person who answered the phone what can they do? He asked my wife why are you calling us and she said, well you have phone numbers posted to report polluting vehicles? The guy said well I don't know who I would report it to, or what they could do about it! She said well that's not really our issue is it? You're supposed to be monitoring polluting vehicles. He said OK, give me the license plate number and I'll see what I can do. My wife said are you going to do anything? He said, I don't know I need to look at the regulations first and see who I'm supposed to report it to, and then maybe somebody will do something.

Lastly they can convert all of the 10 remaining diesel and coal fired power plants. Thailand has already done a very admirable job with renewable power plants. There are over 50 powered by hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass. That is impressive. 
 

Good summing up not just complaint but also credit where it is due. I wish more people would post this honestly

[EdrigoSalvadore]

Thailand barely has any national parks.

[richard_smith237]

5 hours ago, jvs said:

They are going to enforce this ban the same way they enforce other bans.

Nothing will happen.

 

Oh but it will... Just wait for the first tourists to be charged B100,000 for putting on sun-cream while at the beach in Koh Samet.

 

It can top up the stories of Tourists being charged B20,000 and in another story B50,000 for taking sand from the beach in a jar. 

 

Thailand is desperate for tourism to resume, then keeps shooting itself in the foot with these silly silly policies which complete ignore the real issues such as poor sewage treatment and effluent runoff from land until eh sea and concentrates on ’sunblock’ of all things !!! (which by the way floats and is then carried away on the tides and diluted and broken down naturally).

 

 

 

 

[RobU]

2 hours ago, David T Pike said:

Do most SE Asians actually need sunscreen having a natural defense for the sun?  I guess they don't want the fair skinned Farangs $$$....

Not True, even Black skin can burn very easily and needs a lot of care and is prone to skin cancer.

Tuaregs in the Arabian Deserts everything is covered except the eyes to protect from the sun

If you look around you at Thai labourers who work in the sun you see that nearly all their body is covered, only the face and hands visible often they wear a veil to cover the lower half of the face (in use before Covid) and wide brimmed hats because the sun is regarded as dangerous

Dark skin is not a natural defence against the sun it is merely the colour of your skin.

Asian people have a traditional respect for the danger of the sun, which has only become prevalent in the west over the past 30 years. Getting a suntan was a fashion trend set in the 1930's and caused a pandemic of skin cancer in the west

Edited August 4, 2021 by RobU

[Rookiescot]

100,000 baht for wearing sunscreen on a beach.

300 baht for not wearing a helmet on a motorcycle.

Absolute joke.

[richard_smith237]

8 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

100,000 baht for wearing sunscreen on a beach.

300 baht for not wearing a helmet on a motorcycle.

Absolute joke.

That pretty much puts it in perspective.

 

As another poster wrote earlier... its just another announcement, just another crack down... they all are just hot air and get ignored anyway..... Well, usually they do, but this one comes with an opportunity to make money off tourists.

 

I can see the headlines... "Tourist fined for polluting at the national park” with the ensuing hang-em high posts until it comes to light that it was for "protecting yourself against skin cancer”.... 

.... then we’ll have the poster arguing...”its there own fault for going to the beach” !!!! 

 

Should make for an entertaining thread when it happens !

[sambum]

7 hours ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

They can use sunscreen, just not the ones that contain the specifically-named, banned chemicals. There are other sunscreens that do not contain these chemicals and which are OK to use.

Try telling that to the cop with his mitt out! A bit like trying to explain that Ginger Beer does not contain alcohol!!!

[tifino]

so they approach some glistening booty babe lounging on her pillows on the beach... how do they determine she's got suntan on? and not just lathered up with swathes of hot melting virgin coconut oil?

 - a taste test off of her booty?  

 

[LongTimeLurker]

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

And what about the rest of the environment? The government should offer incentives, for the farmers to switch crops. This is 2021. Rice and sugar worked in previous centuries. Now, they do not make any sense. Too labor intensive, too much degradation of the land, water, air, and resources. Let's get with the times. Let us move forward. 

And what are the Thais and other Asian countries supposed to eat? Cake?

 

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Lastly they can convert all of the 10 remaining diesel and coal fired power plants. Thailand has already done a very admirable job with renewable power plants. There are over 50 powered by hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass. That is impressive. 

You can't convert diesel and coal fired power plants to hydro, wind, solar and biomass, they are too big and too far from those sources. You can add flue gas de-sulphurisation units to them though, which is a requirement on new coal fired plants and makes them cleaner. Or you can add combined cycle units to them to increase the output without increasing the pollution.

[bangon04]

7 hours ago, samtam said:

Exactly how are they going to enforce this ban?

Presumably there will be a sunscreen application tent located just outside the entrance to the national park..... it may add some time to the line for the double pricing ticket entry....

[bangon04]

There will be so many umbrellas in the park - the nature  will be out of sight most of the time

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by bangon04

[sawadee1947]

8 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Not even a concern on any level. Why? How long have you lived here? How often have we seen declarations like this? This current administration is infamous for pledges, declarations, proclamations, silly laws, and promises. Few are even remembered, much less followed up upon two weeks later.
 
Feel free to cite some environmental promises that were followed up on, if you can. Otherwise, this is just a pedantic high school level attempt to appear as if they care about the environment, passed by men with a staggering level of incompetence and indifference toward their land, water and the common man. Means less than zero.

 

And what about the rest of the environment? The government should offer incentives, for the farmers to switch crops. This is 2021. Rice and sugar worked in previous centuries. Now, they do not make any sense. Too labor intensive, too much degradation of the land, water, air, and resources. Let's get with the times. Let us move forward. 

 

Then they can move on to tackle the sale of diesel vehicles, and the government's enthusiastic support of such. It is inane in this day and age. Most nations are moving away from diesel for good reasons. When they are not well maintained, they foul the air, with large, nasty particles. And who properly maintains their vehicle here? A while back they had a campaign similar where they had posters with phone numbers that you could call to report vehicles that were polluting. We were driving and we saw this truck that was pumping out huge black clouds of smoke and I copied down their license plate and I dialed the number, and handed my phone to my Thai wife and asked her speak to the department. She asked the person who answered the phone what can they do? He asked my wife why are you calling us and she said, well you have phone numbers posted to report polluting vehicles? The guy said well I don't know who I would report it to, or what they could do about it! She said well that's not really our issue is it? You're supposed to be monitoring polluting vehicles. He said OK, give me the license plate number and I'll see what I can do. My wife said are you going to do anything? He said, I don't know I need to look at the regulations first and see who I'm supposed to report it to, and then maybe somebody will do something.

Lastly they can convert all of the 10 remaining diesel and coal fired power plants. Thailand has already done a very admirable job with renewable power plants. There are over 50 powered by hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass. That is impressive. 
 

Thailand needs YOU. ????????????

[chilli42]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

The ban affects all sunscreens which include the chemicals Oxybenzone, Octinoxate, 4-Methylbenzyl and Butylparaben.

So the people enforcing the ban will be sufficiently competent in English to read these ingredients?