November 28, 1995. Copyright, 1995, Graphic News. All rights reserved

GOVERNMENTS MEET TO SAVE OZONE LAYER
By Nicholas Booth, Science Editor

LONDON, November 28, Graphic News- Today, representatives from 150 world governments meet in Vienna to discuss their strategy for the strongest ever action to protect the ozone layer. Though most developed nations have already agreed to phase out chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, at the end of this year, the focus will be on third world countries who want to continue to use ozone depleting chemicals as they begin to industrialise. Delegates will also discuss the phasing out of methyl bromide, used as a crop fumigant, and so-called ÔsafeÕ alternatives to CFCs. 

Ozone is created high above the equator by the action of ultraviolet light upon the oxygen we breathe. It spreads out to form a diffuse layer which protects us from ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, known to cause skin cancers in humans and damage to crops and plants. The action of manmade chemicals containing chlorine and bromine is known to destroy ozone and their gradual accumulation in the upper atmosphere has led to the creation of an annual hole in the layer over Antarctica and a gradual stripping away of the layer around the rest of the world.

This weekÕs meeting in Vienna comes a decade after the first convention, signed in the same city, to protect the ozone layer. Two years later, a protocol was signed in Montreal calling for a 50 per cent reduction in the use of CFCs by the end of this century, but as the pace of ozone depletion increased, the protocol was amended in 1990 and further strengthened in 1992, when it was agreed to phase out CFCs completely by the end of 1995. As it now stands, industrialised nations have already banned halons, CFCs are to go by the end of next month, and carbon tetrachloride by 1996.

Developed nations are by far the most voracious users of CFCs Ð it has been estimated that 25 per cent of the worldÕs population consumed 85 per cent of CFCs Ð but there is no room for complacency, because of the long-lived nature of the ozone-destroying chemicals. It will be another century, at least, before ozone levels return to those before the dawn of the industrial age. In the United States, a new, and particularly worrying development has been reported. CFCs are now MiamiÕs second largest illegal import, according to an environmental group called Ozone Action. Because first world CFC manufacturers can legitimately export them to developing nations, smugglers have simply changed labels and not forwarded them to their original destinations. According to the group, it is estimated that over 22,000 tonnes were shipped into the United States last year, while federal authorities netted only 500 tonnes.  

SOURCES: United Nations Environment Programme, World Meteorological Organisation, New Scientist