Ozone Depletion - A Global Warning
...n cancer and suppression of the immune system, but it may also cause a decrease in aquatic species. The Antarctic ozone hole is also a result of gases containing chlorine and bromine, whose sources are mainly human-made halocarbon gases. The risk is higher here than a simply case of sunburn. Unfortunately, the world is already witnessing the early effects of ozone depletion. Chlorofluorocarbons were invented in 1928. They were the product of an intensive search by engineers to find a safe, non-toxic, non-flammable refrigerant, and the “new wonder gas” was named Freon, which “soon topped the list of wonders, a 'miracle' refrigerant . . . with the combination of safety, cleanliness, and efficiency . . .” (Seth Cagin and Phillip Dray, 66). It was not only apparently “safe” gas, but also with the invention of air-conditioning, Freon was used to cool our homes, cars, and business. The Freon is a chemically stable, nontoxic, and nonflammable gas. Other useful properties are high density, low boiling point, and low viscosity. These characteristics make the Freon especially suited for use as refrigerants as well as aerosol propellants, solvents, and expansion agents in polyurethane foams. When a NASA satellite photo revealed that a part of the ozone layer the size of the United States had disappeared from the atmosphere above Antarctica, it proved the theory that the use of Freon is destroying the ozone layer. Released into the atmosphere, these chlorine-containing chemicals rise and are broken down by sunlight, whereupon the chlorine reacts with and destroys ozone molecules—up to 100,000 per CFC molecule. For this reason, the use of CFCs in aerosols has been banned in the United States and elsewhere. Other chemicals, such as bromine halocarbons, as well as nitrous oxides from fertilizers, may also attack the ozone layer. Since its discovery in 1985, the ozone hole above Antarctica has grown to three times the size of the continental United States (World Meteorological Organization). “In 1987 the recognition of the potential for chlorine and bromine to destroy stratospheric ozone led to an international agreement (The United Nations Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer) to reduce the global production of ozone-depleting substances” (WMO). Action is already taken on the CFCs and Ozone issue, and there is already substitute for Freon that would cost approximately three to five times more. It seems that in transition to the new technology it involves billions of dollars, but that...