EU ships could face having to travel more slowly and use more fuel than their Asian competitors because of Brussels’ failure to authorise an innovative paint for ship hulls that prevents barnacles becoming stuck by making them hyperactive.
Medetomidine has long been allowed for human and veterinary use as a sedative, but scientists in Sweden discovered it has the opposite effect on barnacles, which become temporarily excited when they come into contact with the substance and so cannot settle on a surface.
While each barnacle is small, a build-up of the crustaceans can vastly increase a ship’s drag in the water, increasing fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
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