Deet and other pesticides hurting the reef?

[RTBDiver]

, picaridin is not a solvent to plastics, coatings or sealants, and will not damage plastic or synthetic materials, unlike DEET, which is incompatible with synthetic materials. That alone makes picaridin environmentally safer than DEET.

This would make sense if these coatings, plastics and synthetics were found naturally in the environment and that was what the topic was about but to be perfectly honest when I walk down the beaches of some undeveloped areas that do not have the daily beach rake and clean up and see them strewn with plastics and synthetics it makes me sad and I would not be bothered if these things had disolved rather than kicking around for the next hundred years or so.
As far as picaridin being any safer? Call me crazy but if you read the EPA reports , they list Picaridin as Moderately toxic while DEET is listed as only slightly toxic. This does not mean I am suggesting either of these products are responsible or not for reef damage but it would seem to suggest that Picaridin certainly cannot be listed as any safer.

 

[Ayisha]

Unless you are diving only in a cotton or natural fabric swimsuit, DEET should really be a non-issue for diving since it's damaging effect on your exposure protection and/or dive equipment is not recommended.

 

[RTBDiver]

Unless you are diving only in a cotton or natural fabric swimsuit, DEET should really be a non-issue for diving since it's damaging effect on your exposure protection and/or dive equipment is not recommended.

Another great post, unfortunately it is yet another that has nothing to do with the topic of DEET or other chemicals hurting the reef

 

[Ayisha]

If DEET is known to damage your exposure protection and dive gear, why would you wear DEET with your dive gear at all? Therefore, divers entering the ocean wearing DEET should be a non-issue, since they shouldn't wear DEET and dive gear together.

Pretty simple really, unless you have some vested interest in DEET. There is a time and place for DEET-based products. Coupled with dive gear is not the place.

 

[RTBDiver]

Therefore, divers entering the ocean wearing DEET should be a non-issue, since they shouldn't wear DEET and dive gear together.

The topic is not about deet or anything else hurting dive gear, it is about chemicals hurting the reef and people suggesting that deet in fact hurts the reef and there are safer alternatives. what is your suggestion for those simply swimming and playing at the beach? What do you suggest is better and or safer than deet for protecting the children from insect bites? In your opinion does deet only hurt the reef if it stays atached to a diver until they are near the reef and therfore a swimmer should not be concerned about it?
Yours like so many come up with many different "thoughts" but still no one has come up with any information as to where the deet hurting the reef thing started or been able to tell us about any other product that is shown to be any safer for the reef and still accepted by any major medical organization as being beneficial in protecting against bug bites.

 

[Roatan Marine Park]

I think this may possibly be the final time the Marine Park writes on Scuba Board

Having been away from the computer for over a week, I'm glad I have not wasted my time responding to posts every 20 minutes. If you remember weeks back, the original post was concerning the anchor damage caused by the mega yacht Drum Beat. Since then it has become something of a witch hunt regarding our stance on DEET.

We have never received any emails from RTBDiver, unless you are Eric, and in which case i responded, so please reframe from saying we have avoided contacting you.

Will, the reason we have not spent all our time responding to all these posts is because we have much more important issues to resolve. I have made only one or two posts on this link, nothing compared to the others participating in this debate.

I made the brief post on Coral List to put the issue into the scientific spot light and out of our hands. I was searching for scientific evidence to add weight to our stance that we "Do not recommend visitors using DEET before entering the water". As we have poachers, illegal developments, raising public awareness, sewage, education etc to deal with here on Roatan, why not use my precious time more accordingly and focus on the major topics on hand.

With limited man power and no financial backing from the Honduran Government, we have achieved much in the few years since our establishment. We have a thousand issues to deal with at any given hour and systematically work through as many as we can.

As I would like to reiterate again, this post was about anchoring on the reef and not DEET and I would like to thank those to have supported us in contacting the correct authorities and offering your assistance regarding the illegal anchoring of the Mayan Queen IV and Drum Beat.

I for one have had malaria and did not find the experience a welcoming one. We can not stop you using DEET, cactus juice, skedattle or any other repellents; we just ask that you reframe from jumping straight in the water after application.

 

[RTBDiver]

I would like to thank the RMP for the reply yet it still seems to skirt the questions. Yes, I did first mention this topic in the reef destruction topic because this poster had replied there and seemed to be affiliated with the marine park and had seemed to miss the area where this was posted. If the marine park simply took the stand that it is best not to use any type of lotion or potion before diving then this would be a non issue but there are, or at least have been for years, signs and people not just suggesting not to put deet on and immediately jumping in the water but rather suggesting that deet not be used because it hurts the reef and people should buy there more environmentally friendly products yet they have nothing to back it up or at least do not wish to share it. If they are better and safer just be honest, otherwise it seems to be some type of unfounded marketing ploy that would probably end up in the courts in more developed countries. They suggest other products that are supposed to be more environmentally friendly that they offer in the store, please tell us what tests prove these are any more environmentally friendly or simply stop suggesting one is better as it really does hurt the credibility and all the RMP strives for. As I have said numerous times, I am all for the RMP, have donated more than once and am all for much of what they do. I am also all for a better/safer option and would simply like to know what is their eco product, what testing has been done and what major medical association approves it as a repellant? Seems simple, maybe I am missing something in that no one seems to be able to answer on this topic.
Have a great day,

 

[RTBDiver]

. Furthermore, picaridin is not a solvent to plastics, coatings or sealants, and will not damage plastic or synthetic materials, unlike DEET, which is incompatible with synthetic materials. That alone makes picaridin environmentally safer than DEET.

OK,
Lets see, you replied to a thread about DEET and other pesitcides hurting the reef.
You sugest that because Picaridan is not a solvent to plastics, coatings or sealants, and will not damage plastic or synthetic materials that it is safer??? Hmmm, I don't know but I don't find to many plastics, coatings or sealants or synthetic materials naturally on any reef.
Maybe you needs to stop diving at EPCOT,

 

[RTBDiver]

Guess the plastic epcot reefs are doing better, good to hear

 

[RTBDiver]

I have to remind you that it may be not very wise to believe what the major medical organizations etc and EPA tell you about DEET. Their points of view may be not very objective considering how powerful the pharmaceutical companies are...if you know what I mean.

Uh, no, I don't really know what you mean considering DEET is not categorized as a pharmaceutical in our country.

, as the authors of the guide book MOON Honduras & The Bay Islands suggest you may want to consider to wipe off the DEET with a towel before going swimming or scubadiving.

Hmmmm, And you do not feel that the guidebooks, which are paid by local businesses for advertising and inclusion in would not be influenced by the local customs whether or not they had any merrit? Where do they suggest this deet be wiped off? In a shower that drains into the groundwater? wiped on paper towels that get disposed of in the dump that leaches to the groundwater? Even if there were proof that deet wat harmful, wiping it off would only transfer the problem.
Sorry but when it comes to my health I will rely on the CDC rather than MOON Publishing. If DEET was so bad for the reef they Why oh Why isn't there one single report to back it up?

On a similar note, Why do you have such faith in a guidebook Yet in your past threads you have chastised the guidebook of Betty Pratt-Johnson for NOT writing about information that has not been shown to be a risk? Just what scientific method do you use to decide what guidebook authors/publishers are more qualified than doctors and health departments?